Family Ties
by Fairyfinder
Summary: Alright, better title. Artemis, our favorite criminal, meets another criminal. This boy turns out to be part sprite. Artemis helps his to solve the case of his mother's murder, the sprite's mom, not Artemis'. We'll run into old enemies along the way, particularly an enemy with the intitals J.S. Enjoy! Reveiw!
1. Chapter 1

**Maryland, USA **

Nick snuck to his front door, hoping that no one would hear him open it. Yes! He was out. Next step: get past the dog. All he had to do was throw the slice of ham and bolt. Easy, right? Wrong.

Nick tossed the meat and darted past Goliath, the two hundred pound mastiff. Unfortunately for Nick Goliath didn't happen to be very hungry. Or was that fortunate? If Goliath wasn't hungry then he wouldn't eat Nick.

With Nick's luck it was hard to tell. How could he be part fairy and still be so unlucky? Maybe being part sprite wasn't enough; maybe you had to be a full blooded fairy to be lucky.

Goliath ran for Nick, who had just reached the front gate. Nick struggled with the chain until he just pulled so hard it broke. Maybe he was part troll too. Nick slammed the gate on Goliath and ran for the end of the drive way. He might just make it before that pesky sprinkler went off. He didn't make it.

Water squirted fast and hard at the thirteen year old boy.

"Argh!" Nick gurgled.

The boy sprinted for the road and just made it before Goliath broke the fence. The dog ran for Nick but couldn't catch him before he crossed the invisible fence. Goliath got a painful shock as he too tried to cross the invisible fence.

Nick smiled and ran for the bike he had his best friend hide in a bush. Nick checked to make sure he had everything: Sandwich, soda, water, money, blanket, map, compass, and mirrored sunglasses.

The boy hopped on the bike and pedaled hard. He was two miles away from his house in about ten minutes. No one could stop him now.

Nick heard sirens. No one could stop him except the police.

The police cruisers forced Nick to pull over and get off the bike. The officers inside the car threw him into the back seat and dialed his parents. The cops probably had his mom and dad on speed dial by now.

Ten minutes later Nick's parent had him in an interrogation room at the police station.

"Why do you keep sneaking out Nicholas? It just causes problems for people!" His mom yelled at him.

"Nicky, if you want to have your freedom then we can walk to the park and you can hang with Ted." Nick's dad said.

"His name isn't 'Ted', its Fred!" Nick mumbled.

"Whatever. You won't have the privilege to see Fred anymore!" His mom said angrily.

_Great, they must be grounding me again._ Nick thought glumly.

"We aren't grounding you this time Nicky boy. Your father and I are fed up with your behavior. You my friend are going to reform school." Nick's mom said.

"What?! That's not fair! You can't do this to me!" Nick ran for the door and pulled hard. It wouldn't budge.

"No more running for you, son." Nick's dad spat.

Nick sat at the table and looked down. "What do you want?"

"We'll tell you at home, and then you can choose if you want the school or the job." His mom whispered.

Nick was shoved in the front door of his house and roughly thrown into a chair. Nick's parents weren't exactly what you would call loving.

"We want you to get us into the new museum on Main Street." Nick's mom, whose name was Bonnie, growled.

"Yeah Nicky boy, the museum. And we want you to do this so we can get that ancient vase that belonged to Alexander the Green." Nick's dad, whose name was Clyde, frowned, "I mean Alex the Great."

"And why should I do that?" Nick answered rudely.

"Because if you don't then you'll be off to Millard's Home for Wayward Boys, so there." Bonnie said just as rudely.

"You wouldn't do that to me. I'm your only way into that place!" Nick said, hoping it was true.

"Not anymore! We found this guy named Bobb Ragby and he'll be just as good as you at getting into places. He's a fairy too. A fairy dwarf." Clyde said, trying to make Nick jealous.

"Well if you have him why do you need me?" Nick retorted.

"Because you're our son and we thought that we'd offer you the job first." Bonnie said "sweetly".

"Well then," Nick paused to get his parents hopes up, "Since I'm you're son, you won't mind if I don't take the job." And with that Nick left the room to go pack his bag for Millard's.

Clyde and Bonnie were furious that Nick was going to force them to pay Ragby's outrageous price. Nick was their son for goodness sake! Well not really…

Some family history might be helpful at this point. When Nick was five years old he found wings popping out of his back. If you looked at Nick in the right kind of light then you could tell that he was tinted green. That was because his mother had been a sprite. She was all green and had wings. Nick had loved her very much. When his father and mother died in a shuttle accident Nick had been sent to live with his human grandparents. Who died soon after Nick's arrival.

That's when Clyde and Bonnie had come into Nick's life. They thought it was very useful for the burglary business to have a son who could fly. So they told him that he was their son. They taught him how to pick locks and useful burglary tricks like that. Nick became the ultimate cat burglar.

Part way through his crime career Nick started to feel bad about robbing people. This was when he was ten. Ever since he had tried to escape Clyde and Bonnie. But the two "parents" had gotten used to Nick obeying them and were quite angry when he ran away the first time.

So they moved to the country and bought a large house with a guard dog and a huge fence going all the way around the property. Nick still tried to escape.

**Fowl Manor, Ireland**

Artemis had been scheming lately. Everyone in his family knew to stay away from the child prodigy when he was scheming. His parents hoped that he was scheming to do something good. Artemis Fowl the second rarely schemed for something good.

Artemis had been thinking about how useful it would be to have someone to some of his dirty work, not to mention chores. Butler was one of Artemis' best friends; he would do anything Artemis asked, unless it was illegal. Mr. and Mrs. Fowl had instructed Butler not to help with any of Artemis' illegal schemes, knowing Artemis wouldn't try to pull the heist without Butler by his side.

So Artemis was searching the internet for good reform schools. Not for himself by any means. He was looking for someone like himself. A young person who had a criminal background. The person couldn't be a murderer. They had to be smart and willing to help.

Artemis found a website for an American reform school and started searching through the list of boys. Three looked promising. One was in for plotting to steal a soda. Artemis looked at the case file and found the plan for stealing that one soda was very elaborate.

The other two had been the first's minions. They looked very useful. Artemis notice that the list had grown in two minutes. There was a new name on the list of wayward boys.

"Hmm…" Artemis thought for a second before bringing this boy's page up. This boy might be a waste of time; he was probably just another shop lifter. But Artemis knew it would haunt him if he didn't look over every possibility.

"Nicholas Johnson. With a name as common as that I probably won't find much of him on Google." Artemis said opening the file.

**Millard's Home for Wayward Boys**

Nick's parents had driven him to the school early in the morning. Nick was not a morning person so this made him grumpy.

When they had gotten there Nick had been told to put on a bright pink jumpsuit.

"Here at Millard's we believe that humiliation will lead to a more humble boy." Said the warden as he showed the family around.

The warden left them at the sign-up desk.

"What is your reason for leaving the boy here?" The receptionist asked.

"Have you heard about those recent robberies? Well he's responsible. He hid the loot somewhere." Clyde claimed.

"I wish our darling Nick wasn't like this!" Bonnie said, giving Nick a hug.

"Is that his name?" The receptionist asked.

"Nicholas Johnson. Oh, please tell me, will you fix him here? Will you fix our darling?" Bonnie wailed, it sounded very fake.

"Yes ma'am we'll fix this boy right up." The receptionist said with a roll of her eyes.

Some guards pulled Nick away and left him in a dormitory.

**Fowl Manor**

Artemis was surprised when he pulled up the boy's page. This scraggily looking teenager (the files had pictures) was responsible for all those robberies in Maryland? Artemis noticed the boy's complexion was light green. Was this a trick of the light or did the boy actually have green skin?

Artemis looked at some mug shots. This was odd. The boy had two lumps near his shoulder blades.

"Does he have wings?" Artemis asked no one.

Artemis decided he needed to get a closer look at this strange boy. Perhaps he should bring him back to Ireland. The LEP might be needed if the boy was actually a sprite.

"Butler! Get the plane ready! We're going to Maryland!" Artemis called.

**Millard's Home for Wayward Boys**

Nick looked around his dorm. It smelled terrible. Really terrible. Nick held his nose and found his bunk. The bunk, Nick found, was the cause of the awful smell. Somebody had placed a dead rat on the pillow.

"Oh! Argh!" Nick said, barfing on his pillow, adding to the stench. The smell made Nick barf more. The remains of his stomach groaned.

Nick would have lain down, but his pillow was covered in barf and dead rat. So he just stood there looking stupid. The front of his pink jumpsuit was cover in throw-up.

Half an hour later a guard came in to take Nick to lunch. The guard barfed as soon as he smelled Nick's barf. The janitor would not be happy. The guard took Nick by the shoulder and tossed him in the detention room.

"No lunch for you newbie." The guard said, trying to hold back the rest of his breakfast.

Nick sighed and sat down in the lone chair, this was going to be a long stay.

A few days later the warden came to find Nick.

"Nicholas Johnson! You've got a visitor!" The warden barked.

Nick scurried away from a game of checkers he was playing with another boy and stood in front of the warden.

"If it's my parents could you please tell them that I would prefer not to see them ever? Thanks." Nick said sarcastically.

"Are you giving me attitude Johnson?" The warden yelled.

"No sir. I would never." Nick smirked.

"Hmm, we'll deal with that later. The visitor is not your mommy it's some kid. Looks your age, he also looks like a vampire. So let's get out there so you can talk to Dracula Jr." The warden huffed.

"Whatever, uh, sir." Nick grinned. In the three days he had been at this place Nick had turned into a real bad boy, he had never been sassy before, but now…

The warden led Nick to the visitor's center and sat him down at a table. There was only one other person in the room; a large man sat at one of the tables, supposedly working on a visitor's form.

"I'll go find Dracula Jr. He was here a minute ago." The warden said, scratching his hairless head.

"It's actually 'Artemis Jr.' but I do get 'Dracula' quite a bit." Said a pale boy in the corner of the room, "You must be Nicholas. I'm guessing you prefer Nick."

"Do I know you? Did you go to my school? If you came for a laugh you won't get one." Nick said distrustfully.

"No, I'm not from your school. I'll explain who I am once we get some privacy." Artemis said, glancing at the warden.

"Right, I'll give you some time alone." The warden said.

After the warden left Nick was a little worried. Just because this Artemis fellow was scrawny didn't mean he wasn't dangerous. Maybe he should call the warden back in here for some protection.

"So what do you want? If you have anything to do with my parents I'm out of here." Nick said warily.

"Your parents? I'm guessing you're still angry with them for leaving you here, am I right?" Artemis inquired dully.

"A little. The real reason I'm angry with them is that they forced me to break into all those places. What jerks, right? They're not even my real parents." Nick snorted.

"Really? That's interesting." Artemis pulled his phone out of his pocket and typed in a memo, "So what kind of places did they have you break into?"

"You know, museums, banks, anyplace that Mom and Dad couldn't break into. I also break out of my house almost daily." Nick knew he probably shouldn't tell this strange boy this but he was curious.

"How much money did you make doing this?" Artemis asked, knowing the answer was probably not going to be high.

"Zip. My parents kept it all for themselves." Nick said sourly.

"How would you like to get paid for breaking into a few places? My guy who does that normally is in jail for a century." Artemis said, referring to Mulch Diggums, hoping the part about "being in jail for a century" just sounded like and exaderation.

"I don't know. The whole reason I quit is because I didn't like taking things from people, I don't think I could do that again." Nick sighed.

"I'll split whatever we steal with you in even halves. Whatever I get you get." Artemis knew he might have to offer more if he wanted this strange boy to come back to Ireland with him.

"That sounds good to me! So I'll see you in four years and then we can get started." Nick agreed quickly, being a good guy was okay, but the money sounded much better.

"Why wait until you get out legally? Give me a day and I'll be back with a plan to get you out." Artemis whispered.

"Oh really? How do I know I can trust you?" Nick asked suspiciously.

"Here," Artemis said, handing Nick his gold coin that Holly had given him, "I'll be back for this. Just promise me you won't lose it."

Nick stared at the Gnommish written on the coin. "Where did you get this?"

"A friend gave it to me." Artemis said. He noticed Nick had read the Gnommish. Perfect, he had taken the bait. "Do we have a deal?" Artemis said, rising from his seat. .

"Deal, see you tomorrow." Nick said, shaking the other boy's hand.

Artemis left the room and was followed by the large man from the other table.

Nick frowned at the big man . Who were these people? What did they want with him? How did the pale boy have a Gnommish coin? Nick had so many questions, none of which he could get answers to. Or could he?


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry I didn't put this on chapter 1: I do not own Artemis Fowl or anyone associated with the Artemis Fowl books.**

**Millard's Home for Wayward Boys**

Nick knew that no human was supposed to know about fairies, Haven, or Gnommish. He knew that if he ever told anybody about fairies then either the person he told would be mind wiped or he would be mind wiped. Nick didn't have any desire to lose his memories, especially those involving his mother, so he never told anyone about the fairies.

Nick wondered how this Artemis kid had gotten a coin with Gnommish written on it. No normal person should have one of these coins! But then again, Artemis didn't exactly seem normal.

Nick knew Artemis wasn't normal this idea made him curious. A simple Google search should help with some of the information. That's was if this Arty guy had a reputation. Nick was certain he did. But unfortunately for Nick, Millard's believed that the less boys knew about the world the less likely it was for them to go back to their evil ways.

In other words, Nick couldn't get to a computer. No computer meant no Google. No Google meant Nick would have to find another way to get information on his new "pal" Arty.

But there were other ways to get information.

The boy's at Millard's called him Wiki Pedia. Only a few knew his real name. But all of the boys had heard his story.

It was said that Wiki had been the best of the best. The king of the thieves. He was so good at covering his tracks that even his parents didn't suspect a thing. That was until his downfall.

Wiki had been visiting his cousin in Ireland when news came that the famous Lady Fei Fei Tiara was in town. He knew he had to have it, you know to complete his collection. But when he had tried to take it he had been too late. Someone else had already stolen it! The cops were all over the place. When they caught Wiki he had been sent to Millard's without any hesitation.

Rumor had it that Wiki was still in the crime biz. He had people on the outside of Millard's stealing for him. And that was how he came to know things from the outside.

Nick told himself that Wiki couldn't hurt him. He was only a kid, right? Nick told himself this, but he didn't believe a word of it.

When Nick had free time that day he went straight to the dorm that everyone stayed away from. It was the darkest, creepiest, most frightening dorm in the whole school. You only got in if you were willing to pay the price.

Nick had brought all of his desserts that he had been saving in case he needed to talk to Wiki. He'd been saving them since day one.

He hoped that three triple chocolate chunk cookies would be enough for the information he wanted.

When Nick got to Wiki's dorm room he saw Augustus standing outside. Augustus was the three hundred pound bodyguard of Wiki. There was not one person at Millard's who didn't fear the boy. Not even the warden would stand up to this monster.

Augustus was smiling at Nick; that wasn't a good thing.

"Mr. Pedia has been expecting you Johnson." Augustus smirked.

Nick shivered. If Wiki had been expecting him then Nick was late. If he was late then Wiki wouldn't give as much info. It also meant Wiki wanted higher pay, three cookies might not be enough.

"Can, can I," Nick cleared his throat, "Can I see Mr. Pedia now?"

Augustus opened the door with a grin. "Go right ahead."

Nick tentatively took a step in the gloomy dorm.

"Wiki? Err, Mr. Pedia? Are you here?" Nick whispered.

There was a "swish" next to Nick and suddenly it was completely dark. Someone had closed the door.

Nick let out a quick, high pitched squeak. There was chuckling.

"Ah, Nicholas. I've been expecting you." Said a low voice. Nick tried to figure out where it was coming from, but the voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once.

"Uh, Mr. Pedia I was wondering if I could ask you a question?" Nick asked, and then immediately regretted it, knowing exactly what Wiki was going to say.

"But you just did! But since I'm a reasonable fellow I'll let that one be free." Wiki chuckled.

"Thanks." Nick whispered.

"Of course. Now, what's your real question?" Wiki laughed.

"Uh, I need to know something about a boy who came to visit me." Nick started.

"Do you know anything about him?" Wiki asked, knowing that Nick probably didn't know a lot about this person if he had dared to come see Wiki.

"I'm pretty sure he's a criminal,"

"Wow, that narrows it down a lot." Wiki said sarcastically.

"He has a REALLY big guy following him around." Nick added.

"Then I'm going to assume he's rich." Wiki said thoughtfully, "The big guy is probably a bodyguard."

"I don't know his last name but his first," Nick attempted a laugh, "I'm pretty sure this is a girl name,"

"Wait! Does he have dark black hair?" Wiki interrupted.

"Yeah,"

"And mismatched eyes? One blue and one green?" Wiki was starting to look angry.

"I didn't really look at his eyes," Nick said hesitantly.

"Alright, well what's his first name?" Wiki said furiously.

"Uh, Artemis." Nick whispered.

"I knew it! I hate Artemis!" Wiki screeched.

"What's his last name?" Nick asked.

"I hate Artemis Fowl!" Wiki yelled. He took a minute to calm himself and then asked quietly, "What do you want to know?"

"Basically who he is and what crimes he's committed." Nick shrugged.

"He's the one who got the tiara I was after! He's the reason I'm in jail!" Wiki bellowed, "A while back I tried to be the youngest person ever to steal this one painting, The Fairy Thief, but Fowl beat my hired burglar to it. I know he's done a couple of other illegal things but I'm not sure how."

"Anything else?" Nick asked.

"I've heard he knows how to hypnotize people really well. He said something once about learning it from his fairy friends. That's how I know he's secretive. He probably has never told the truth in his life." Wiki spat.

"Great." Nick moaned.

"I've answered enough of your questions. You owe me three cookies." Wiki said, noticing the bulge in Nick's pocket.

Nick threw his three cookies onto an enormous heap and turned to go.

"Thanks Wiki. You've been a real help." Nick said politely.

"Whatever." Wiki grunted, sifting through his giant pile of cookies.

Nick walked silently to his dormitory and plunked down on the clean bed. What had Wiki meant when he said Artemis had "fairy friends"? Did this Arty guy actually know fairies?

Nick vaguely remembered hearing about an incident that the fairy police had to deal with. Some human had kidnapped a LEP officer and actually gotten the ransom gold. Could it be the same guy? If so was he trying to kidnap Nick?

_I wonder if the LEP would even give gold for a half fairy's ransom._ Nick thought glumly.

Nick surprised himself; he had actually forgotten he was part fairy in the past three days. He suddenly felt the urge to go outside and open his wings. He could almost imagine the wing blowing through his hair. Nick could almost taste it.

"Johnson!" Nick's eyes snapped open as the warden called him.

"Yes sir?" Nick sighed.

"We have to talk about your attitude boy!" The warden barked, "You was giving it to me earlier."

"Yes, sir. Right away, sir. Whatever you say, sir!" Nick snapped.

The warden was taken aback by the boy's rudeness.

"Whatever I say huh? Well then, let's go outside," Nick's heart lifted when the warden said this; but then was crushed, "You're going to give me twenty laps around the yard! Then if you're lucky you'll only have to do two hundred pushups!"

Nick groaned.

He hoped the Fowl kid wasn't lying when he said he'd get Nick out.

**A van outside Millard's**

"Butler?" Artemis asked.

"Yes Artemis?"

"Why are you helping me? I believe Mother and Father told you not to help me with any of my illegal schemes." Artemis inquired.

"I don't exactly think of this as illegal. The poor boy in there didn't actually steal the stuff, and even if he did, it was his parents forcing him to." Butler said, checking his watch.

"Hmm. So you think that freeing this boy would be more of a justice?"

"I think so. Besides, if he's a fairy then we should really talk to him. He might be freaked out if he doesn't know." Butler shrugged.

"Why would he be 'freaked out'? Oh I see, you mean about his wings." Artemis thought for a minute, "Yes he probably would be 'freaked out', but I'm ninety-nine percent sure he knows about his ancestry."

"And if he doesn't?" Butler asked.

"Then we have an extremely intelligent boy on our hands. Which I highly doubt." Artemis chuckled, something he rarely did, "But if that is the case, I don't think he would be inside the building over there any longer. He wouldn't have even gotten caught if he was that smart."

Butler nodded. His employer had an odd sense of humor.

**Millard's Home for Wayward Boys, the Next Day**

Nick woke up to see the warden standing over him.

"You ready for more attitude lessons boy?" The warden smirked.

"Ugh?" Nick's tongue seemed to be too tired to work properly.

"Oh, did I disturb your beauty sleep? I'm sorry! Now give me thirty laps!"

Nick moaned and went for the door, his foot dragging his school books all over the place. When he got to the door he found it locked. He pulled hard.

"Sir? The door won't open." Nick called to the warden.

"What?! Let me try!" The warden pulled on the door.

The door finally opened, dumping a bucket of glue all over the warden. But not just any glue, the fastest setting glue in the world. The warden was stuck to the spot he stood on.

After the bucket had emptied itself and fallen on the warden's head the warden let out a string of bad words. Thankfully all of them were muffled by the bucket.

In an instant Nick realized what was going on. So as all the other boys in Nick's dormitory laughed at the warden Nick sprinted over to the room's one window.

All the windows at Millard's were eight feet off the ground. They didn't open and they had bars on the outside. The wall surrounding it was made of cinder blocks. No one had ever escaped through a window.

Nick jumped as high as he could and held onto the window ledge. Outside he saw the big man that had been with Artemis. The big man was pouring something on the window bars that made it melt like chocolate on a hot day. The man put the same stuff on the window. When that was done melting the big fellow reached inside and pulled Nick out.

"Thanks!" Nick whispered.

The man nodded. He pulled Nick close to the wall and motioned for him to be quiet and follow him. Nick did so. They inched around the corner of the dormitory wall and ran for the front gate. It was locked but the big man just ran straight into them and they came off the large wall that surrounded Millard's.

The two ran for the van that was parked across the street. When they got there the man picked Nick up and threw him in the back seat. The man sat himself in the driver's seat and they sped away.

Nick looked around. The van had a ton of technology in it. Not to mention Artemis.

"Welcome Mr. Johnson. I trust your escape was pleasant?" The other teenager smirked.

"Uh, yeah. Here's your coin, Mr. Fowl." Nick said hesitantly.

"Thank you. Why don't you take a seat? It will be a long ride." Artemis said all this very pleasantly, which made Nick very suspicious.

"Sure," Nick took a seat and buckled himself in.

"I'm sure you have quite a few questions. I'll answer them on the plane."

"The plane? Where are we going?" Nick asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it. You just sit back and enjoy the ride. Maybe take a nap." Artemis said, applying what little magic he had left to mesmerizing Nick.

Nick found that he very much wanted to take a nap. So he did. His last thought was: _I wonder if I can mesmerize him._

Artemis smiled. He couldn't believe that had actually worked. He had thought he used all of his magic up on his mother when she was sick. Apparently not.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Artemis Fowl or anybody in the series. I'm pretty sure you knew this already.**

**Fowl Manor Basement**

When Nick woke up he was definitely not where he had fallen asleep. The room he found himself in basically looked like a jail cell. All that was in it was a small bed and a camera on the wall. The pillow Nick had been using was actually a wad of clothes with a note pinned to it.

Nick read the note:

_Nicholas,_

_I'm sorry about the room; I saw no other way to ensure that you would not be leaving any time soon. Thank you for your cooperation. It is greatly appreciated. _

_Artemis Fowl II _

Nick crumpled the note up and threw it at the camera.

"So much for freedom!" Nick shouted.

He realized that he was still wearing his ridiculous, pink uniform. Nick decided to dress under the bed so that the camera wouldn't get a good shot of his wings.

It felt good to have fresh air on his wings; cotton must not be good for them. Despite his longing to just fly around the cell, Nick put on the plain, blue t-shirt that had been provided. The jeans were a little too big, but there was a belt.

Once he was done dressing Nick crawled out from under the bed. He took off his running shoe and covered the camera with it.

"That should get him down here." Nick snickered.

He was right; Artemis and Butler came charging into the cell. Both looked annoyed when they saw the shoe.

You might be wondering how Nick was tall enough to reach the camera on the ceiling. Nick had inherited his wings and greenish skin from his mother, but he was part human too. This meant he didn't have pointy ears and he took after his dad in height. I might mention that Nick's father had played a lot of basketball in college. Nick wasn't nearly as short as normal fairies, who were about a meter tall. He surpassed them by almost three feet.

Artemis was agitated with this Nick boy. He couldn't stand it. The bad boy types were so annoying! They always acted so tough; any one could tell that the "bad boy" in Fowl Manor was just a normal teenager. But normal teenagers were quite annoying too.

"Mr. Johnson, why did you place your shoe on the camera?" Artemis asked, rubbing his temple where a headache had just blossomed.

"I want to talk to you, Mr. Fowl." Nick scoffed.

"A suppose this is about the room, is it not?" Artemis sighed.

"Why on earth am I in your basement?!" Nick shouted.

"It was the only room I could think of for a guest such as you."

"Oh? If this is how you treat your guests then I'd hate to see how you treat your enemies!" Nick screeched.

"Do you want me to sedate him Artemis?" Butler asked.

Nick's eyes widened. "Whoa! Don't worry about me! I'll do whatever you want!" He said, quickly deciding that being sedated was not going to get him anywhere fast.

"Hmm, I'm sure you will Mr. Johnson. I would like to have breakfast before we begin," Artemis said dryly.

"You want me to cook? Because I can make really great toast! I'll cook whatever you want!" Nick started pleading.

"No thank you, we had Butler and Juliet for that." Artemis said.

Normally he would have loved to torment this boy, but he only needed a little information from him so Arty found the pleading to be annoying.

"I just want to talk with you. I'm sure you would like to have a few questions answered too."

"Uh, sure. I am kind of hungry. You guys got any waffles?" Nick shrugged.

The trio went upstairs and headed for the kitchen. Juliet was there with breakfast.

"You want eggs Arty?" The young woman asked.

"No thank you, Juliet, I'll have toast I think. Our friend here said something about waffles." Artemis told Juliet, wishing he could keep her from calling him "Arty".

Nick nodded at Juliet and followed his captor to the dining room. Artemis motioned for him to take a seat. Nick did so in the normal teenage fashion. In other words, he flopped into the chair and slouched. Artemis sighed and sat down in his chair.

"Before you ask me anything I would like to ask you something," Artemis began.

"Fire away dude." Nick shrugged.

"How do you know Gnommish?" Artemis asked, in perfect Gnommish.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I don't know what Gnommish is." Nick said, also in Gnommish.

"Oh really? Then how come you've been speaking it this whole time?" Artemis smirked.

"I uh, what did you say? I don't understand that gibberish." Nick said in English.

"I highly doubt that, Mr. Johnson. Now if you would tell me how you know this language we can begin breakfast."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about!" Nick's eyes darted about the room, searching for an escape route. The large window looked promising.

Butler immediately blocked the window. Nick stood up and ran to the door. Butler intercepted him and held him by the collar of his t-shirt.

"If I set you down, will you run?" Butler asked in his gravely tone.

Nick avoided the body guard's eyes.

Butler shook him. "Answer boy!"

"No." Nick mumbled.

Butler set him down in his seat but kept a firm hand on his shoulder. Nick glared at Artemis. Artemis glared back.

"Will you tell me or will I have to mesmerize you again?" Artemis bluffed, knowing he didn't have any magic left.

Nick grumbled something. Butler gripped his shoulder.

"Ow! I'll tell you! Stop squeezing me!" Nick shouted.

Butler grunted and Artemis smiled sinisterly. Nick winced.

"Where were you born?" Artemis started.

"New York. In the suburbs."

"And your parents' names?"

"Clyde and Bonnie." Nick lied.

"I mean your real parents." Artemis told him loftily.

Nick hesitated and Butler squeezed his shoulder.

"Ow! Their names were Travis and Minnie!" Nick sighed as Butler let go of his shoulder.

"Good." Artemis nodded his approval, "Where were they born?"

"Dad was born in New York and Mom…" Nick glanced at Butler, then at the door. Maybe he could make a run for it.

"Don't even think about running Nick." Artemis said as Nick started to run.

This took Butler by surprise, which rarely happened, so he didn't have time to grab Nick. The boy was out the door in a matter of seconds.

"Juliet! Grab him!" Butler called.

Nick had made it to the kitchen. He didn't make it any further. Juliet slammed him into the tiled floor. Nick thought he heard a bone crack. It didn't matter; his magic would take care of that. If he had any left that was. There weren't that many ancient oaks in Maryland.

"I got him Butler!" Juliet called, pinning Nick's arms behind his back.

"Ow!" Nick moaned.

Butler picked him up, tied him up, and sat him in his chair.

"You better behave Nick. They weren't trying to hurt you THIS time." Artemis said casually, "I f you would be so kind as to tell me where your mother was born we could begin breakfast."

"It's in a city you've never heard of." Nick thought he was telling the truth.

"I highly doubt that. I've heard of mot cities on and in earth." Artemis snorted.

Nick opened his mouth to speak but then closed it, realizing what Artemis had said wouldn't make sense to a normal person.

"What are you talking about? There are no cities IN earth." Nick pretended.

"Oh I'm sure you're right. I'm curious though. What would you name a city underground? I think I'd name it Haven." Artemis smiled.

"That's, uh, an interesting choice. May I ask why you'd name it that?" Nick said, nervously pulling at his shirt collar. It seemed to have shrunken around his neck.

"Oh, I don't know. I would call it that because it would be sort of a haven from humanity." Artemis sneered.

"I see. I think I would name it, uh, Nickville." Nick broke into a sweat.

"Enough prattle. Tell me where your mother was born. I'm really quite curious." Artemis said politely.

"Atlanta, Georgia! That's where she was born!" Nick squeaked.

"Are you sure?" Artemis pried.

"Ugh! What is your problem! Why do want to know so much about me?!" Nick screamed.

"Because there is something you're not telling us. And I want to know what it is." Artemis said, quickly changing from sweet to sinister.

"Fine! You want the truth? Well I'll tell you! I'm sick of this little charade! My mom was born in a city called Atlantis! She didn't live there for long because they moved to Haven. She met my dad while she was visiting New York. They got married and had a kid. When I was five they both were killed in a shuttle accident on there was to visit my grandparents. You happy?" Nick exclaimed, slamming his fist into the table. Tears had started building up in his eyes, "I was sick the day they died so I couldn't visit my grandma with them. If the stupid old lady hadn't wanted to see my mom so bad that day they might have stayed home with me. Then there might not have been all the confusion in the tube about my dad being human and they would still be around."

Artemis was silent. When he was ten he thought that he had lost his father. Everyone had. But his father had come back. Artemis couldn't imagine knowing that his parents were never going to come back.

"So your mom wasn't human? I thought as much. I'm sorry for your loss. If you would like Butler to return you to your room for the time being we may talk later." Artemis concluded.

Nick nodded and Butler escorted him to the cell in the basement.

When Butler came back up Artemis was picking at a piece of toast that Juliet had brought in.

"Hmm…" Artemis sighed.

"Would you like me to get your communicator? You should probably call the LEP about this. They probably don't want us to have a fairy running around Fowl Manor." Butler noted.

"I suppose not. Yes, please bring the communicator down here. It is in the safe at the back of my closet." Artemis said quietly. He knew that the LEP should probably be involved but the matter seemed too family-related for the police. Artemis knew that Foaly would have an opinion. And Holly. They all would want to bring Nick down to Haven to question him. There had to be something Artemis could do about that. But what?


	4. Chapter 4

**Guess what! I don't own the Artemis Fowl characters! Isn't that amazing?! ; )**

**Fowl Manor, Front Gate**

Holly flew into the Fowl driveway and landed unsteadily. She was testing Foaly's latest model of wing design. They prototype still had a few bugs.

The elf decided not to risk another wings malfunction and just walk the rest of the way to the door. This was probably a wise decision, considering the wings had dumped Holly in the ocean twice.

Holly wondered if Artemis' parents and brothers were home. She shrugged and rang the doorbell.

"Holly! You shouldn't be taking chances like that!" Foaly's electronic voice beeped in her ear.

"It's Artemis' house! It doesn't even look like anyone is home. Mr. Fowl always leaves his car out in the drive and it's not there." Holly said, recalling a recent visit.

"I hope we don't have to mind wipe anyone." Foaly muttered gloomily.

Holly turned down the speaker volume on her helmet and waited for the door to be opened.

**Fowl Manor, Basement**

Nick wasn't a big crier. He never had been. But the "interview" with Artemis had both saddened and embarrassed Nick. This gave him good motive to weep into his mattress. The idea had been to muffle his moans with the bed. It didn't appear to be working.

"I hate you Fowl!" Nick screamed, throwing the nearest and heaviest object at the camera. The object happened to be his wrinkled up, pink jumpsuit. The piece of cloth opened up in mid-air and fluttered harmlessly to the cement floor.

**Artemis' Study**

Artemis watched as Nick sobbed. The site would normally have amused Artemis. The situation seemed too grim for even a criminal to laugh at.

Artemis glanced up from his monitor as he heard the doorbell ring. That was peculiar. Maybe Juliet had ordered pizza. Artemis hoped it wasn't so. He despised fast food.

After five minutes of no one answering the door Artemis went to open it himself.

He opened it, half expecting to see a pizza delivery boy, half expecting to see the Russian mafia. You never knew who it was at the Fowl house. Unless of course you checked the security camera, which Artemis hadn't bothered to do.

"Holly! You shouldn't be…" Artemis started.

"Taking chances like this, yes I know. I got the lecture from Foaly five minutes ago." Holly interrupted with a roll of her mismatched eyes.

"Maybe you should listen to him." Artemis muttered. He extended his hand into the house.

"You need to invite me in. I just got refilled and I'm not losing my magic now." Holly said dryly.

"I'm sorry. Please come in." Artemis said quickly.

Holly was escorted to Artemis' study. She decided to stand even though a chair was offered. Holly hated human seats, her feet always dangled. And at least if she was standing and Artemis was sitting she could look him the eye.

"So Mud Boy, why did you call me up here? Not that I'm not grateful for some surface time, but I do need probable cause to visit a human dwelling." Holly grinned.

"Well your 'probable cause' for your report can be a fairy citizen in need." Artemis smirked as Holly's face became befuddled and curious, "Yes, I do know that every time you come to see me that you are filling out a progress report. Foaly's system isn't that hard to hack."

"You know what? You are really annoying." Holly giggled.

"I can't help it. Being annoying to police officers is a Fowl family trait." Artemis shrugged, "Now about the citizen in need."

"Artemis, you don't count as a fairy citizen if that's what you're thinking." Holly scolded.

"Of course; this isn't for me. I have recently met a very odd boy." Artemis started.

"Oh, so you've looked in the mirror?" Foaly's voice said from Holly's helmet.

"Very humorous Foaly. I said this meeting wasn't for me and it isn't. The boy is from the United States. I found him on the internet. He happens to be half sprite." Artemis paused to let this news sink in.

"How did that happen? Which parent?" Holly inquired.

"Apparently the boy's mother, who was a sprite, was visiting New York and met the boy's father."

"What do you mean when you say '_was _a sprite'?" Foaly asked skeptically.

"The boy's parents were killed in a shuttle accident. He has been living with two criminals named Clyde and Bonnie. They've been making him break into museums and banks." Artemis said quietly.

"And so you picked up this average looking kid from a reform school and found out he was a fairy. Then you call us in to help out." Foaly snorted.

"Basically, but how did you know?" Artemis inquired.

"Your computer isn't that hard to hack either." Neither Holly nor Artemis could see Foaly, but both could imagine the smirk on his face.

"Could we see this boy?" Holly asked, "I'd like to ask him a few questions."

"No, err, he's asleep right now." Artemis bluffed; he didn't want Holly to know that he was keeping Nick in the cell in the basement.

"Well, you surely have his room bugged we could just look at him through a camera. We can question him later." Holly said, growing suspicious.

"He…well…um." Artemis rarely stuttered, but he hadn't prepared a lie and was at a loss for words.

"You didn't." Holly gasped, "Artemis I thought you had changed!"

"What was I supposed to do? Let him roam around? This boy could pick the lock on a normal door and I'm not taking the chance of him flying away!" Artemis said tartly.

"Just let me see him." Holly sighed.

Artemis flipped the switch on one of his security monitors and an image popped up. It wasn't Nick though.

"Artemis?" Holly said.

"Yes?" Artemis said, too shocked to say anything else.

"Why is there a Nike symbol on this screen?"

The two, and Foaly's voice, sprinted down the stairs collecting Butler as they went. When they got to the underground cell Nick was nowhere to be found. There was a shoe on the camera though.

"You lost him?!" Foaly gloated.

"No, you did." Artemis replied calmly.

"And how did we do that?" Foaly snorted.

"Had Holly not rung the doorbell then I would not have been taken away from the monitor. Then Butler and I could have come down here as soon as we saw the shoe. All in all it is the captain's fault." Artemis shrugged.

"It is not my fault! It's your fault for inviting me!" Holly exclaimed.

"How silly of me. Of course it wasn't your fault. It is the LEP's fault for not taking care of an orphaned fairy allowing him to roam around the human world and commit crimes. Therefore causing me to take him back with me to Ireland. And allowing him to escape my custody." Artemis said, crossing his arms.

Holly was about to respond when Butler broke up the fight. "Does it really matter whose fault it is? The important thing is to retrieve the boy and get the information." Butler left the room and began to search the house.

Holly looked at Artemis. Artemis looked at Holly. They both shrugged and followed Butler.

**Fowl Manor, Gym**

Nick had heard the doorbell being rung and figured somebody would have to answer the door. If the somebody was Artemis or the big bodyguard then it would give Nick a chance to get out of there. He had placed his Nike running shoe over the camera and begun picking the lock.

After Nick had picked the lock, which took about one minute, he tore his shirt, allowing his wings to come out, and flapped them. He flew down the corridor and found stairs. He followed the hallway until he came to a door. The door opened up to a gym. Nick figured he could hang out there for a while.

He looked around and saw weight lifting equipment and treadmills. This place was jock heaven. Nick wasn't really a jock though, so the place made him bored.

After a while he started flying around the gym, figuring the ceiling was high enough. It felt great to be in the air. There was no place he felt happier.

Nick was so happy about being in the air again that he started to do complicated dives and spins. Soon he had forgotten time and everyone in it. It was just him, the ceiling, and an elf. Wait, what?

**Five minutes earlier**

The gang had searched almost every room in the house. Butler was the first to realize that they had not yet searched the gym. They headed there immediately.

When the trio had opened the door they saw the sprite boy flying in intricate loop-de-loops and summersaults. He was whooping with glee.

Butler looked at Holly. Holly looked at Artemis, who looked back at Holly with a shrug. The elf sighed and opened her unstable wings. Why had Foaly made her test new wings today of all days?

**Present time**

Nick was surprised to see someone else in the air, but that didn't stop him from having fun. He flew circles around the elf, who was obviously having some trouble controlling her wings. Nick laughed at her and teased her. He was having so much fun that he didn't see Butler pull out his hunting rifle and place a tranquilizer dart in it.

Butler aimed and fired. Nick was spiraling downward faster than a dwarf could tunnel. Holly finally managed to control her wings and snatch Nick out of the air and set him - not very gently - on the ground.

"Are you sure he's a sprite? He is the heaviest thing I've ever had to carry." Holly paused, "Except for maybe Butler. But you were attached to a moon belt."

"I'm quite certain he's a sprite. His flying patterns were too elaborate to be done on fake wings." Artemis said, stooping over to get a closer look at the sprite boy's wings.

"I bet if I had a pair of good wings then I could have done that." Holly grumbled.

"What do we have here?" Artemis muttered as he pulled a piece of metal loose from Nick's extra limbs.

"What? What did you find?" Foaly said, very annoyed that he did not have visuals from the floor. Sometimes staying at the office during a field mission had its disadvantages.

"This is quite interesting; it appears to be a hologram projector of some type." Artemis said, studying the device.

The teenage genius picked at a switch until it moved. The small projector beeped and flashed a blue light. The holographic shape of a female sprite appeared. She began speaking in Gnommish.

"This is a message for my son, Nicholas Johnson. If you aren't him, then I suggest you leave this alone." The small hologram chirped.

Artemis pushed the off switch. "I believe our friend here should listen to this as well." He sighed; waiting was not the teenager's specialty.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: If I owned Artemis Fowl do you think I would make fan fiction stories for it? That's right, I don't own Artemis Fowl.**

**Fowl Manor, Artemis' Study**

When Nick awoke he was handcuffed to a chair. Well nothing unusual there. The elf in the room did seem a bit odd at the moment.

"Is he still asleep Holly? I heard him groan." Artemis said, typing rapidly on a computer.

Nick closed his eyes a grumbled a little. He realized he normally snored and quietly faked it.

"Um, it's hard to tell if he's faking or not." The female elf said.

"It can't be that hard." Artemis sighed.

"We could always poke his feet with those sharp needles you have." Holly lied.

"Good morning Mr. Fowl! Anything I can do for you?" Nick said, fully awake now.

"I thought as much." Artemis muttered, "No, I don't require anything at the moment. However, once I get this projector hooked up to my computer I will need you."

"Whatever you say! I mean you're the boss, man!" Nick smiled falsely.

"Is he always so easy to intimidate?" The elf asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yes mostly. You should have seen Juliet take him down the one time he was brave." Artemis smirked.

"I didn't want to hurt a girl, that's why she tackled me." Nick snorted.

"Better men than you have tried and failed to get around Juliet Butler." Holly snickered.

"Might I ask who you are?" Nick asked Holly.

"I'm Captain Holly Short of the LEP. In case you don't know that stands for…"

"Lower Elements Police. I wanted to be on the LEP when I was four. Then Clyde and Bonnie got me involved in crime." Nick looked Holly up and down, "Say, you're not here to arrest me are you?"

"Negative. I'm here to find out more about you." Holly said airily.

"Oh. Okay, whatever. I'm Nick; it was nice to meet you."

Holly turned back to Artemis. "What's taking you so long?" She hissed.

"I haven't reequipped this computer with the correct fairy technology since the mind wipe. I need to do that before I can connect the projector." Artemis explained.

Holly ground her teeth. She had been waiting for two hours.

A few minutes later Artemis had finally hooked the hologram projector up to his computer and was able to amplify the volume and restore the older holographic quality.

"I believe we're all set to watch this." The boy genius declared.

"What are we watching anyway? If this is one of those boring nature documents we have to watch in school then I'll be asleep in about five minutes." Nick warned.

"I think you'll find this film a little more interesting, based on the fact that your mother was the lead actress." Artemis muttered.

"What? How can that be? Mom's been dead for like…" Nick tried figuring how long it had been, "A long time now."

Artemis crossed his arms and looked grumpily at Nick.

"Oh, it's prerecorded, I get it. So is like her will or what?" Nick shrugged, immediately wishing he hadn't; the cuffs cut into his wrists.

"I assure you I don't know. We decided to wait for you to wake up to watch it." Artemis muttered.

Before Nick could ask any more questions Holly reached across the desk and hit play.

"This is a message for my son, Nicholas Johnson. If you aren't him then I suggest you leave this alone." The sprite on the screen said.

"It's password encrypted from there. I have to admit that the code is too complex for even me to crack." Artemis said as a box requesting a password popped up, "Do you have any idea as to what the password may be? I could probably crack the code in a matter of days, but it seems quicker this way."

"What happens when you put in the wrong password?" Nick asked.

"It says something about flavor." Holly explained and then said "Unicorn" into the speaker.

"You know that flavor is wrong Nick! You've got to give me the right one!" The sprite on the screen called.

"Do you have any idea what that means?" Artemis asked Nick skeptically.

"Maybe. It might have something to do with a game we used to play when I was a lot younger." Nick said, furrowing his brow, "If I remember correctly she asked for a flavor of ice cream, but she didn't tell me which one. I had to guess until I gave her the right flavor." He grunted sadly.

Holly winced. She remembered how it felt to lose her mother. This boy obviously missed his.

"Chocolate!" Nick said into the speaker, as he pulled his chair forwards with his feet.

The computer informed him it was the wrong flavor.

"Vanilla!"

Wrong flavor.

"Strawberry!"

Wrong again.

Nick thought for a moment.

"Garlic with peanut butter!" Nick exclaimed.

"Ew! There's no way that's…" Holly started.

"Good job Nick! I can't believe you figured it out! I'll get you next time!" The sprite on the screen sang.

Nick looked forlorn, remembering that there would be no next time.

"Excellent Mr. Johnson. Now let's see what mysteries this video contains." Artemis said, trying to cheer Nick up.

"Well Nick," The video started, "If you're watching this then I'm probably dead. That or you got into my stuff. If I'm not dead, please put this back in Mommy's sock drawer."

Nick half snickered half sniffled.

"If I am dead then I would like to let you know why. The LEP will probably tell you that your father and I were killed in a tragic accident or something. They're plenty good at that." The sprite said with a roll of her eyes.

Holly glanced at Nick guiltily.

"It might have been an accident. It probably wasn't. I have always tried to be friendly to everyone I've ever met. I hope you'll grow up to be the same way. There was one person I wasn't the friendliest to. I was so unpleasant that he may come back for revenge. He is very good at staging accidents and he'll probably get away with killing me. I don't mean to frighten you but after he's done with me he may come after you." The sprite paused, "His name is JaJaJaJa SpiSpiSpiSpi…" The computer kept replaying the two syllables until Artemis turned it off.

"I'm sorry. The hologram it came on was several years old and it seemed very beat up." Artemis apologized.

Nick's head drooped. "Yeah, whatever."

"We'll find out who this Ja Spi guy is, I promise. Do you know anyone whose name sounds anything like that?" Holly said sympathetically.

"I'll think about it, but I doubt it. It's kind of hard to contemplate the fact my parents were murdered." Nick sighed.

Holly, feeling very guilty after the remark Nick's mother made about the LEP, undid the cuffs on Nick's arms.

Artemis knew he probably should feel guilty, that being the correct mood for the time being, but didn't. He was proud he had brought Nick to Ireland, if he hadn't then Nick would have never found out about his parents murder.

After Butler had escorted Nick to a guest room (not the cell in the basement) Artemis pulled Holly aside.

"Do you think you could get Foaly to run a search on Nick's mother? I'd do it myself but I need time to think." Artemis said.

"Probably, Foaly is very compliant to people who don't hack into his computer. But I think you should spend some more time with Nick and try to make him feel better." Holly chided gently.

"Making him feel better will not help find his parent's killer." Artemis said calmly.

"Can't you spend one hour with him? Just one hour. Play a game, shoot hoops, or do whatever teenage humans do." Holly scolded.

"Fine. One hour." Artemis muttered.

The teenage mastermind headed for Nick's room. He had to turn himself around at one point, remembering Nick was no longer in the basement. When he finally got to the right door he knocked once.

Nick opened the door. "What do you want, Dracula?" He sniffed rudely.

"I was wondering if you would like to come down to the kitchen to have a carbonated drink with me." Artemis asked, trying to remind himself of what this boy had been through.

"A carbon-what now?" Nick inquired curiously.

"A carbonated… oh forget it. Would you like a soda?" Artemis said irritably.

"Sure dude. Listen, I'm sorry about before," Nick said, closing his door as he exited the room.

"No need to be it was, after all, I who kidnapped you." Artemis said with a wave of his hand.

"I know, but being tackled, kidnapped, interrogated, cuffed to a chair, and finding out my parents were murdered aside, this has been a pretty awesome vacation." Nick smiled.

The boys went downstairs to be greeted by Juliet.

"Get down fairy boy!" The young woman cried, knocking Nick to the ground, "Are you okay Artemis? Did this scum-bag do anything to you?"

"Of course not Juliet. He is simply coming with me to get a soda." Artemis explained.

"I thought you hated soda! You told me that soda could rot your teeth and such. You made it sound like soda was the route to all evil!" Juliet said, rather exasperated.

"Yes well, it is always good to try something new." Artemis said nervously.

"Okay… what kind do you want? I've got strawberry, orange, and lemon-lime." Juliet said slowly. She wondered if Opal had sent a clone of Artemis.

"I'll have orange." Nick said.

"Make it a double orange." Artemis decided he better just stick to Nick's opinions about soda, it was probably the safest path.

As the boys sipped their sodas Holly came rushing down the stairs.

"Foaly did the search you asked for and found out that Nick's dad, Travis, wasn't the first human Minnie dated." Holly gasped; human stairs really took a lot out of her.

"Who else did she date?" Nick asked, very intrigued to find his mother had once loved someone besides Travis.

"Apparently this guy was her boyfriend for a few years until she dumped him." Holly said, slowly regaining her breath.

"How did you find this out?" Artemis inquired.

"We hacked into her old Fairybook account." Holly said.

"That is kind of creepy you know." Nick said skeptically.

"Kind of." Holly admitted, "But guess who this guy was! Artemis, you're going to love this." she said sarcastically.

"Please don't say it's anyone related to me." Artemis groaned.

"Nope. The guy's name is Jason," she paused, "Jason Spiro."

"I recognize the last name but not the first." Artemis said grimly.

"He's Jon's brother. And before you ask, yes the same Jon Spiro from our Chicago adventure and yes he took over the Spiro Needle." Holly grimaced.

"You're saying that Nick's mother might have been killed by a Spiro and the LEP never looked into this Jason fellow?" Artemis groaned.

"Yeah well Jon Spiro has probably killed his brother off by now so we don't have much to worry about." Holly argued.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Jason Spiro the millionaire uncle I have, would you?" Nick asked.

"You have an uncle named Jason Spiro? You can't be serious." Holly said.

"He's not my real uncle. My mom told me he was an old family friend, and since both of my parents were only children they made Jason my unofficial uncle." Nick explained, "I've always liked my Uncle Jason, I don't think he would have killed my parents."

"If he's such a great relative then how come you aren't staying with him?" Artemis asked.

"My mom put something in her will about how under no circumstances I was to live with my uncle. That actually makes sense now." Nick told them.

"Okay, we've got the name of the crook, now we just need to get him," Holly said, flapping her fake wings experimentally, "And take him down."

**A/N: Now I finally have a plot! Mwa ha ha! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Even if the Chicago mafia torchers me into saying I do, I still don't own Artemis Fowl and Co.**

**Fowl Jet**

It took Artemis a matter of seconds to find the location of Jason Spiro. It was very helpful to the search that Jason's brother Jon inserted a GPS system in his arm. All Artemis had to do was hack into the GPS signals, which wasn't all that hard, and follow it to Chicago.

So Artemis, Holly, Butler, and Nick hoped onto the Fowl's private jet and flew to America. The ride was rather boring for Artemis since he had been on planes many times before, but for Nick it was a new experience.

Nick had never been permitted to ride on a plane before. Clyde and Bonnie knew that if Nick rode an airplane he would have to have a full body x-ray. This could be a problem given the fact Nick had to extra limbs.

"Wow, this is so awesome! I can't believe I'm on a plane! I'm flying without even trying! Hey that rhymes! Did you know…?" Nick babbled.

"This is going to be a long flight." Holly whispered.

"Yes, it was a lot quieter when he was unconscious." Artemis mumbled.

"You mean you sedated him for the ride over here?!"

"Of course not! I had a little magic left and mesmerized him into sleeping. I try not to sedate anyone unless it is completely necessary." Artemis explained.

"I suppose sedating me on a certain full moon night was necessary." Holly hissed.

"I wouldn't have had to sedate you if you came along willingly. I thought you weren't going to bring that up any more."

Holly was about to respond when Nick screamed.

"That is the weirdest thing I have ever seen!" The young sprite exclaimed.

Artemis came over to the window to see what it was. He saw that they had landed and outside a dwarf was unhinging his jaw and opening his bum flap. The problem was that the rear was pointed at the window.

"Get down! Quick!" Holly yelled, following her own instructions.

The two boys ducked just as a large wad of recycled dirt flew through the window. The wad fell on Nick's sneaker and the boy screamed. He quickly shuffled away from the clod of, err, dirt and hid behind Butler.

"Looks like someone was expecting us." The huge manservant grumbled.

"Was that a dwarf? I've never actually seen one in action." Nick asked, quickly regaining his composure.

"Indeed it was. Try never to get too close to a dwarf in action; it could be bad for your health." Artemis said, brushing glass shards off of his jacket.

Butler went outside to grab the dwarf, from the front. Never ever approach a dwarf from the backside. It could be dangerous, and not for the dwarf. Butler knew this from a rather nasty experience in the Fowl wine cellar.

Nick crouched under the broken window and listened.

"What do you think you are doing?" Butler inquired gloomily.

"Err, uh, they told me you'd be big but I never guessed…" The dwarf blubbered.

"Please fasten your trousers and walk slowly onto the plane." Butler said coldly.

The dwarf did as he was told. When he got on the plane he gasped. The dwarf started to spin himself out of the plane when he saw Nick. Butler turned him around.

Holly turned on her helmet computer database and searched for information to match this dwarf. She groaned when it popped up, "Mr. Ragby, we met again. But this time you don't have your softnose." Holly grunted.

"Corporal, oh that's right, I hear its Captain now. Unless you got demoted for killing Root?" Bobb Ragby smirked.

"You know as well as I do that Opal came into play in the murder of Julius Root. Unless no one can get information into that thick skull of yours." Holly smirked back.

Artemis rolled his eyes at the macho banter. Cops could be rather annoying at times.

"I see you know our little assassin, would you mind introducing him to the rest of us." Artemis complained.

"This guy is part of the reason I got promoted to Captain way back then. You and Turnball." Holly spat.

Holly explained the story of how Turnball Root lured his brother to an island and captured Holly.

Nick listened intently to all of this. "Is your first name Bobb?" Nick asked.

"So Clyde and Bonnie told you about me. You don't look like that great of a burglar." Bobb snorted.

"What does this dwarf have to do with you foster parents?" Holly inquired.

"I don't know the details but apparently my parents hired this guy when I refused to get them into a museum back home." Nick explained.

"So why is he in Chicago?" Holly said, turning to Bobb.

"Clyde pulls me over one day and says to me, 'Bobb, the brat's uncle wants me to do a job. He wants the boy gone. Permanently.' So he tells me that he don't wants to get the brat, that's you by the way, and tells me he'll pays me big dough if I do it for him." Bobb shrugged.

"You're saying that Nick's uncle hired Nick's dad to murder him." Holly frowned.

"I don't know who is who in this set up but I do know that someone wants that brat very dead. Clyde even tells me that the uncle suggested a bio bomb. If I could get ahold of that stuffs then all of you would be very much dead." Bobb shrugged.

Artemis grimaced at the horrible grammar. "Holly, what do we do with him? I certainly do not wish to leave him here."

"I'll have to take him down below. I'll meet you when I can. Come on Ragby. You're due for a time-out." Holly said roughly pulling on Bobb's arm.

Artemis glanced around the airplane. Nick was no where's to be found. He glimpsed out the broken window and spotted Nick running away. Artemis sighed and rubbed his temple. Normal teenagers got scared so easily.

Nick knew that if he hung around Artemis much longer he would be endangering lives. That and bad luck seemed to follow Artemis around.

So Nick sprinted out of the plane as soon as everyone was distracted. With luck, no one would notice his absence for a few minutes. Unfortunately for Nick, luck wasn't on the menu.

Butler was out of the plane faster than you can say "banana". Nick put on an extra burst of speed and just managed to pop his wings out of his shirt before Butler could grab him. Nick flopped in the air for a minute and then straightened out. The boy felt bad about leaving the others but knew it was for the best.

"I'm sorry Butler! Tell Artemis that I couldn't risk it!" And then Nick was gone, flying quickly over a tall building.

**A/N: I know this chapter was short. I'm sorry it couldn't be longer, I'm exhausted.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I know it's been a while since my last update, not that many of you care, but I have had school! And I have had to plan games for my Bible study and… oh, whatever. I have a lot of excuses, on to the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl, yeah, yeah yeah! (Sung to the tune of **_**They Call Me Artemis Fowl**_**)**

**On Top of a Building**

Nick sat on top of a high Chicago building, sulking. He couldn't get over the fact that his beloved uncle wanted him dead. Nick remembered his uncle coming to his father's funeral (the fairies had a funeral for Minnie) and telling Nick that if he ever needed someone to look after him or to talk with he should contact Jason.

"Why would he want me dead? I've always been nice to him!" Then Nick remembered what his mother had said on the hologram. "Maybe Mom dumped him or something. Why is he making such a big deal out of it?" Nick wondered.

A strong breeze nearly blew Nick off the roof. The boy clung tighter and shivered. The weather seemed to be changing rapidly. Rain poured down on Nick and wind slapped his blonde hair across his face. His wings drooped. The sprite moaned as a tear ran down his cheek, invisible amongst the rain drops.

"Why me?!" He knew that only dramatic movie characters yelled things as cheesy as this but he really did want to know why his life was such a wreck. A really big wreck.

**A Chicago Hotel**

Artemis sat in a chair, meditating. The pitter-patter of the rain calmed him.

Holly sat next to the prodigy and adjusted the flight pattern settings on her wings. Maybe she could fix them and fly after the boy. She doubted it. If Foaly couldn't get all the bugs out then Holly doubted anyone could. The elf captain sighed, so much for that idea. It looked like it was up to Artemis, again.

Suddenly Artemis opened his eyes and stood up, his plan was complete.

Butler came in through the door and shook rain off of himself. Seeing Artemis was in a planning mood the big body guard took a seat. Artemis nodded gratefully.

"We do not need Nicholas to be present to find and capture this Jason Spiro. We shall simply collect the uncle and take him underground. Do you think we could interrogate him? Possibly with that tool Foaly used on Butler and me before we rescued my father? The one that scans the retinas." Artemis asked.

"Probably. I don't think Foaly would mind; this whole situation has been like a soap opera to him." Holly shrugged.

"Excellent. All we have to do is find this man and apprehend him. Case closed." Artemis frowned, "Except for one thing."

"What's that, Artemis?" Holly asked.

"What will happen to the boy?" Butler stated.

"Precisely old friend. I would prefer he not go back to that reform school, but if it's the only solution…" Artemis glanced at Holly.

"There's nothing I can do Artemis. What would I do with a teenager?" Holly pointed out.

"I'm not asking anything of you, but isn't there anything in Haven for orphans?"

"Artemis, almost everyone in Haven is over twenty. We don't need orphanages. There is absolutely nothing the fairy people can do for him. He'll have to go back to the school." Holly argued.

Artemis sighed and then composed himself. "Just as well; with an attitude like Nick's he would probably end up in Howler's Peak within a few months anyway."

**Jason Spiro's Office**

Nick squirmed uncomfortably in the oversized, leather chair. Maybe coming to Jason hadn't been the best of ideas.

Nick had thought he would try to reason with Jason, make him see how ridiculous it was to kill his x-girlfriends child. Now that Nick was here he knew that probably wasn't going to happen. What was probably going to happen was Jason Spiro would kill Nick right here in this building and hide his body in a secret panel. Nick knew this place was loaded with them.

The large double doors at the end of the hall opened with a loud clatter, awakening Nick from his horrible thoughts to face the horrible reality. Nick held his breath as a short, dark haired man smoking a cigar came waddling out. The man's round glasses drooped when he smiled. He pushed them back up his nose and smiled some more. Nick grimaced. Jason's smile was equal to that of a shark.

"Nicky! How's it going champ?" Jason Spiro exclaimed, opening his arms widely and blowing a puff of smoke.

Nick rose slowly, readjusted the jacket he had put on over his wings, and walked into his uncle's warm, but sinister, embrace. "Uncle Spiro, it's great to see you."

"Nick your trembling. Is it something I said? Or are you just cold from being soaking wet?" Jason said looking compassionately, but evilly, at Nick, "Susanne! Why is my favorite nephew in soaking wet clothing?"

A tall, skinny, red headed woman with large, red finger nails glanced at Jason. Nick assumed she was Susanne the secretary. "Because it's raining out, sir." Susanne said with a roll of her eyes.

"Well I suppose there is nothing you can do about that. But what about offering Nick some dry clothes and hot chocolate?" Jason said angrily.

"Yes sir, of course sir. Dry clothes and hot chocolate, sir." Susanne said sarcastically. It reminded Nick of how he had talked to the warden back at Millard's.

"You do like hot chocolate right Nicky?" Jason said sweetly, but cruelly.

Afraid of what would happen if he didn't like hot chocolate Nick nodded his head wildly.

"Good! I'll have a cup too, Susanne!" Jason said, clapping Nick on the back affectionately, but maliciously.

Nick wondered if the hot chocolate would be poisoned. Did bad guys really do that? Nicked asked himself if you should ever accept hot chocolate from someone who wanted you dead. The answer was no.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks for the complement Insanity! It was nice to have a review that wasn't about my grammar errors… As to why I'm posting this so soon after chapter seven: I was inspired! A chocolate muffin can do that to ya! **

**Disclaimer: Do I really need to tell you this? You guessed it! I don't own Artemis Fowl! I do own a couple of the characters in this story though. Such as Nick, Minnie, Travis, the first name of Jason Spiro, and my latest creation…**

**Spiro Needle, Chicago**

Gertrude Spiro sat on her bed, pouting as usual. In her leather gloves, which were the kind missing the finger tips, she held a picture of her favorite boy-band. Gertrude crumpled it up and hurled it at the garbage can angrily. The teenage girl stood and continued to throw everything in her room as far as she could throw it. A security camera that was mounted on the wall followed her every move.

Gertrude or Trudy as her friends called her, sighed and collapsed in her arm chair. Being a moody teenager was hard work.

A strong knock sounded on her door.

"Go away!" The fifteen year old girl screeched.

"Miss Spiro your father wishes to see you." A man's voice called.

"Go away Charlie! I don't care if Dad sends the whole mafia in here I'm not going to talk to him!" Trudy yelled at Charlie, her body guard.

"Miss Spiro he says there is a visitor he would like you to meet." Charlie called timidly.

Trudy sat up. "Did he say who?"

"I don't think so; all I know is that it's some boy." Charlie said.

Trudy quickly unlocked the door and looked Charlie in the eyes. "Are you lying to me?"

"I would never, Miss Spiro." Charlie said, crossing his heart.

"You better not be." She paused, "Or else." It was something her father said to scare his enemies.

Trudy walked briskly up to flights of stairs and around a corner to her father's office. She didn't bother knocking but instead just pushed the door open and glared at her father.

**Jason Spiro's Office, Five Minutes Previous**

Nick followed his uncle into the office and took a seat in yet another uncomfortable leather chair.

"Do you like it?" Jason asked him, "I personally don't care for leather but Jon had this place furnished before he told me to take care of it. Brothers!"

Jon Spiro had been caught by the FBI several years previously and gone to jail. While he was away he had appointed his slow witted brother the care taker of all of his operations. Which made Jason in charge of not only Jon's legal operations but the illegal ones as well.

Nick glanced around the office. It had a large, expensive looking, glass desk, a beautiful view of the city, and three, big, uncomfortable chairs. The desk was cluttered with documents and pens, not to mention a couple empty hot chocolate mugs with cigarette stubs sticking out of them.

"It's a wonderful office, Uncle Spiro. Your right though, the chairs are kind of ugly." Nick said nervously.

"You've got good taste my boy." Jason said affectionately, but dastardly. "Hey Charlie! Why don't you go get Gertrude? I'd love to introduce her to my nephew."

A big man in the corner nodded and exited through a doorway that was concealed by a large piece of art. Nick shivered. He knew what those doors were called; Jason had told him once. The secret doors were named Assassin Entries, probably because that is what they were used for. Apparently Jon Spiro had had the doors built so that if he had a guest staying at the tower and the guest wasn't exactly a person who Jon called friend an assassin was sent through the secret tunnels to that room.

A moment later a girl of about fifteen, with brown and blue hair burst in. She glared at Jason.

"You wanted to see me, Father?" Gertrude said through gritted teeth.

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm, young lady. I want you to meet your cousin." Jason said, gesturing to Nick. The boy gave a little wave.

Trudy growled. "I'm out of here." She flicked one of her blue streaks and turned to go.

"Are you cranky because I wouldn't let you go see that band or because I won't let you perform with yours?" Jason asked grumpily.

"Dad! The Big Emerald Beetles aren't just some band! When will you learn?!" Trudy screamed and exited the room, only to be dragged back in by two enormous security guards.

"Nick, this is my daughter Gertrude. She is a big fan of this band called The Large Green Bugs. Her friends and her decided to come up with their own band after seeing the Bugs perform. Gertrude's band is called Blue Blood." Jason explained.

"Yeah, but Dad is being a total jerk and not letting me go to the Big Emerald Beetle's concert tonight! Since I couldn't go to that I was going to perform with my band in the park. But Dad grounded me so I couldn't go!" Trudy yelled.

Nick pressed himself against his chair, hoping that Gertrude would not want to talk to him. He hated talking to girls. This girl seemed to be the bad girl type, which made Nick even more nervous. He wished that he had just stayed with Artemis.

**Outside the Spiro Needle**

Artemis held the binoculars up to his eyes. He could immediately see the interior of a hallway in the Spiro Needle.

"These binoculars are rather useful, what do you think Foaly would say to me borrowing a pair?"

"I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon." Holly laughed.

Artemis smiled but stopped to think.

"Hmm, last time we broke in here it was to take back a computer. Taking a man will be considerably harder." Artemis mumbled.

Butler had rented a car that the team was using for surveillance. Artemis, to the dismay of the rest of the group, had been practicing his driving skills of late and decided that he should drive. Butler and Holly gripped their seats until the ride was over.

Artemis put the binoculars to his eyes again. "Aha, I've spotted our friend Jason Spiro. He's in Jon's old office. There are two people with him; both are about the size of teenagers…" Artemis stopped.

"What? Who are the teenagers?" Holly asked eagerly.

"One of the teenagers is a girl but the other…"

"Who is it?" Holly said, practically jumping out of her seat.

"It's Nick! He has been captured by Jason Spiro!" Artemis exclaimed, still looking through the x-ray binoculars.

"Oh great, now it's a rescue mission too." Holly moaned.

"How will we go about getting him out?" Butler asked gravely.

Artemis thought for a minute. "We stick to the plan. We'll just modify it to take Nick instead of Jason. Mr. Spiro will have to wait for a later time."

The rest of the team nodded.

It was time to commence Operation Take down Spiro/Rescue Nick.

**Jason Spiro's Office**

Gertrude had sat down in a chair and was now pouting. She glared at Jason and then at Nick for not being who she had expected.

When Charlie had told Trudy that a boy was in the tower she assumed her father was trying to make up for grounding her and had brought in the lead singer of The Big Emerald Beetles. You may be wondering how she ever came to that conclusion. Well, Jason had spoiled his daughter in the past and Trudy thought he might have arranged for this meeting. She was rather upset that her father hadn't been spoiling her when he called her up to the office.

Nick was trembling in the leather chair. In this room were two people who hated his guts. Jason had power here and even though he didn't know Gertrude he knew that she probably had a little bit of power too.

This had turned out to be Nick's worst plan yet.

_Maybe there is still a way out of this,_ Nick thought, spotting the crack between the window and the frame.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I love to read reviews so please leave some for me!**

**Disclaimer: First, what do you think I'm going to say? Oh yeah I own Artemis Fowl! I say sarcastically. Sorry guys, still don't own it!**

**Spiro Needle**

Trudy had left the office because she was tired of sitting around and being "polite". Nick watched her go and turned to his uncle.

"I didn't know you were married." The sprite said.

"What? Oh, I'm not. I was but she and I divorced after Trudy turned three. Unfortunately my x-wife died in an, uh, accident." Jason said nervously, yet it still seemed sinister.

"If I may, why did you break up?" Nick pried.

"I kind of told her that Trudy was dead so that I could keep her all to myself. My wife found out about it and got angry. She was going to take Trudy with her after the divorce but we had to get several custody documents signed. It had been four years by the time we got half of them done. My x-wife had gotten remarried and had a son. Trudy had been in boarding school for most of that time. After we got all of the papers done the, uh, accident occurred and I got to keep Trudy." Jason sighed.

"I'm sorry; I didn't realize you had ever been married." Nick gave his uncle a pat on the back. It was very awkward for both.

"You should be sorry." Jason muttered.

"What?"

"Err, you don't have to be sorry, it was—err wasn't – your fault." Jason pulled at his collar.

Nick gave his uncle a curious look but thought better of asking. Instead he decided to compliment his uncle. "I think you've done an excellent job of raising Gertrude, if it means anything to you."

"You aren't going to ask me if you can date her, are you?" Jason said suspiciously.

"No! I was just trying to make you feel better!" Nick tried to erase the thought from his mind.

"Good." Jason breathed.

**Outside Spiro Needle**

Artemis had his plan ready and his team ready. Now they just needed to put it into action. Then all they could do was hope it worked.

Artemis shook his head. _No, all we can do is MAKE it work. And it will._

A few minutes later the group watched through the binoculars as Jason led Nick to a guest room. Artemis waited as Jason walked back to his office and for Nick to stop checking the walls for trap doors to tell his team what to do.

"Butler, I see three hidden doors leading into Nick's room. There are guards in two of them. These may be a good alternate entrance should plan A go amiss." Informed Artemis.

Butler grunted in reply.

Holly had already landed on the roof and was doing scans of the areas they would need to break into.

"Artemis, it looks like they've really downgraded the security since Jason took over. I don't think the vault even locks anymore!" Holly said into her walky-talky.

"That is a good thing, I suppose. But scan Nick's room, we don't need to break into the vault today."

Holly grunted.

"I mean ever, we don't need to break into the vault ever again." Artemis sighed.

"Alright then," there was a pause as Holly scanned, "I've got three security cameras, three guards, locks on the windows and doors, and laser beams around the door knob."

"I see. And the floor above?"

"If you're thinking about pulling the same trick as last time, I don't think it will work." Holly said.

"What trick did you pull last time? You must remember that I was dead so I don't know." Butler inquired.

"We cut a hole in the floor of the room above Artemis'. I pulled him out and we sealed the floor back up." Holly told him.

Butler looked quizzically at Artemis.

"I'll explain later. Why don't you think it will work, Holly?"

"Um, Jason's secretary happens to be sitting right above Nick's room. She has three cups of coffee; I think she's working the night shift." Holly commented.

"How about the room next to Nick's?"

"Well, it looks empty but my radar is picking up vibrations. Let me get a better look." Holly flew to a different point of the roof. She was very careful with the unpredictable wings. "It's an octopus! There is a large aquarium on the wall next to Nick's room!"

Artemis sighed. "How about the room to the left?"

"That's where the secret tunnel starts; the wall is really thick there."

"Alright. We'll have to go through the front door. We will remove the guard and feed the cameras a loop. Then we must turn the lasers off and hack the combination. Then we'll simply walk in and take Nick." Artemis said, planning as he went.

"What about the guards in the secret doors?" Holly knew Artemis would have a plan for them too, but the genius sometimes forgot to include everyone else.

"You will take them out with a stun. Butler and I will be going through the front door." Artemis said impatiently.

"Sure." Holly said.

Artemis glanced at the Spiro Needle. He had already conquered this building once. He could do it again couldn't he? Artemis was 99.99% sure he could. But to a genius 0.01% was a big chance to take.

**Nick's Room, Spiro Needle**

Nick had decided not to escape from his uncle once he had heard the story of Gertrude's past. He really didn't want to cause her any heartache. Because he knew how losing your parents felt and he didn't want Trudy to have to go through what he did when her dad got taken to jail. No one deserved that kind of pain.

That didn't stop Nick from looking around his room. He wanted to be sure there were no Assassin Entries into his room before going to sleep. Nick couldn't find any doors but he knew there probably were some. He didn't go to sleep.

Nick thought Artemis was probably back in Ireland by now, glad to be rid of Nick. But had Artemis really wanted to help Nick in the first place, or was he just part of the whole scam to get Nick to Chicago? Nick hoped Artemis cared just a little.

**Gertrude's Room, Spiro Needle**

Trudy felt bad for her cousin. He was her only relative who knew what it was like to lose their mother, but he hadn't just lost his mother, he'd lost his dad too. Trudy realized how lucky she was to have her father.

She wrote a note on the back of a picture of Big Emerald Beetle.

"Hey Charlie? Will you take this to my dad?" Trudy asked her body guard.

"Sure thing, Miss Spiro." Charlie nodded and took the note to Jason.

**Jason Spiro's Office**

Jason was having his fifth cup of hot chocolate when Charlie brought him Trudy's note.

"Thanks Charlie. Why don't you take the rest of tonight off?" Jason said kindly.

Charlie nodded and headed for the door.

Jason unfolded the piece of paper his daughter had sent him. He saw the band picture and frowned. The man flipped the piece of paper over and read the note from Trudy.

_Dear Dad,_

_I'm sorry for behaving so badly lately. I don't need to go see some stupid band. Thanks for being my dad! You're the best!_

_With Love,_

_Trudy_

Jason smiled sadly. He wished that Nick had a father to love. Tears began swelling in the business man's eyes. _What have I done?_ Jason thought grimly.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Yeah, I know. I have not updated for a while. Yeah, I know. I left you with a rather sad cliff hanger. Yeah, I know that you probably want this story to start going someplace. I do too so let's get it moving!**

**Disclaimer: I'm too young to own Artemis Fowl. I would have to be a smart as Artemis to write this story; I would have been a preschooler!**

**Nick's Room, Spiro Needle**

Nick was bored. Extremely bored. He tried meditating like he had seen Artemis do. He tried counting all the bricks on his wall. He used a chair, a blanket, and the bed to make a tent. What would he do until his uncle sent in the assassins? If his uncle sent them. Maybe Jason wanted Nick to die of boredom. The sprite wondered if that was possible.

_I'll probably go crazy first._ Nick thought, glumly.

He banged his head against the door for several minutes until it opened.

"Artemis?"

**Five minutes previous**

The team had broken into the tower, no need to go into detail about how. I'll give you a clue. Front door.

The front door to the Spiro Needle had been left unguarded ever since Arno Blunt had gone to jail. With no one in charge of security the tower had really just become a large, open, tower that anyone could enter. Not many people had broken in yet. There were rumors that Arno Blunt had been killed in prison and his ghost haunted the building. Anyone who hadn't heard that hadn't heard Arno had been sent to jail.

Artemis, knowing for a fact that Arno was not dead and still remained in prison, had guessed Jason Spiro had not even considered beefing up on security since the place belonged to his brother.

Artemis and Butler had walked in the front door and told the receptionist that they were there for a meeting that was happening on level eighty-five. The receptionist waved at them and went back to reading her romance novel. Surprisingly, Butler recognized the book and smiled. It had been a good one.

**Present Time**

"Nick, nice to see you too." Artemis sniffed.

"How, how did you? Huh?" Nick blubbered.

"We came to rescue you. The original plan was to apprehend Jason, but you were a slight variable. I'm afraid that we'll have come back for your uncle once we have you in a _safe_ place." Artemis snorted.

"What about the…"

"The cameras? Yes well, we disabled them. Simple really. Much easier than when Jon was in charge." Artemis glanced at the ceiling, "And, a lot less messy besides."

"Uh, thanks?"

"Mmm hmm." Artemis was scanning the wall with his modified, x-ray phone. "Aha!" The teenager shoved on a brick with his shoulder and the wall "swished" back to reveal an unconscious security guard.

Nick jumped and hovered slightly.

"That was too easy, Artemis. We are getting too good at breaking into places." Holly said, rolling her neck and cracking her knuckles.

"And I suppose a dwarf is going to jump out of the other wall." Nick said dryly.

"No one invited Mulch, correct?" Artemis said with all seriousness.

Everyone shook their heads.

"What's a Mulch?" Nick asked.

"The correct question would be 'Who is Mulch' since 'Mulch' is a proper noun. When someone asks if one was invited you should assume the one is a person. Never a what." Artemis corrected.

"He is a dwarf who has a tendency to pop up when you least expect him." Holly explained.

"Did someone call my name?" A dwarf said from the hallway.

Everyone except Nick groaned.

"Well what a nice welcome for someone who has saved your sorry behinds so many times." Mulch grunted.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Artemis gasped.

"I was passing by. Their renting out some of the apartments in this place. I thought I'd come up here and remember some of the times we used to have before Koboi became a major problem in our lives." The dwarf rubbed some sun-screen out of his eyes, "What are you folks doing up here? And who is the green kid?"

"I'm Nick. I'm not that green you know." Nick complained.

"Yes you are. You're as green as a lime." Mulch noted.

"A lime! A _lime_! You think I'm the same color as a _lime_?!" Nick hissed. It would seem that his sprite's sense of pride was kicking in.

"Actually, you look sort of like an olive now. This guy is like a mood ring!" Mulch exclaimed.

"What?!" Nick bellowed.

"I wonder what color he turns when he's in love." Mulch smirked.

Nick turned a sickly shade of emerald.

"So that's what sprites look like when they're embarrassed."

"I'm not embarrassed." Nick mumbled.

"Can we please discuss the color of Nicholas' skin later?" Artemis rubbed his temples and frowned.

"You always say that and we never discuss anything later. I bet on the next adventure we go on I'll come up with some great joke and you'll tell me that I can say it later and I'll never get the chance!" Mulch sulked.

Artemis rubbed his forehead again. Mulch could be so tiresome. Artemis frowned at the dwarf in a creepy sort of way and Mulch shut-up.

"Mulch you may join us if you wish, but remember the crimes you've committed and that there is a LEP officer right here. I am sure we will be seeing you shortly anyway for, Koboi is not yet finished and we may be in need of assistance." Artemis sighed.

"Uh, I'll see you later then. Bye Holly! Remember, I'm not doing anything illegal right now!" Mulch waved and ran as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.

"So that's a Mulch." Nick commented.

"I assure you, there is only one Mulch in the world. There for you should take away the 'a' in your sentence." Artemis corrected.

"Uh, okay." Nick shrugged, thoroughly confused.

"Now, how do we go about escaping from this building?" Artemis carefully counted out his words to make sure that there was not eight. It seemed important that there were ten, but he didn't know why.

"Escape? I'm not going to escape!" Nick shrieked.

"Why not? You need to." Artemis, calm as ever, said.

"Trudy." Nick replied as if it made perfect sense.

"Who?" Artemis had a good idea of who Trudy was but he wanted to be certain.

"Trudy, she is my cousin. Well, sort of. She's Jason's daughter." Nick shrugged.

"And why is Trudy preventing your escape?" Artemis asked, and then added, "Please, do tell."

"Well, if Captain Short arrests Jason then Trudy will have to go live with some relatives. Then when the relatives die or reject her she'll go live in some school. After that she'll meet some people who tell her that they are going to be a big, happy family, but really they'll just want her to break into museums or banks or something." Nick choked. He was thinking of his own experience and was saddened by the idea that Trudy would have to go through the same thing.

"I see that you are speaking from experience, and it hurts. I am sure Trudy will not have to go through anyone like Clyde and Bonnie. The LEP will keep an eye out for her, I am sure. Anyone related to these sorts of problems tends to be watched by them. Jason killed your parents, Nick. I think he should go to prison, don't you think so?" Artemis coaxed, wondering if he should resay that so all the sentences had five words.

"No. I don't think he should have to. I can tell he is sorry for what he has done and I don't think that he needs to go through anymore guilt." Nick stated.

"Nick, justice needs to be done. There is nothing you can say that will keep us from arresting Mr. Spiro. If we don't then we'll have to turn him over to the human police and they will give him a much harder punishment than us." Holly said.

"There may be nothing I can say, but maybe there is something I can do." Nick muttered.

The boy opened his wings and flew out the door and down the hall. He was headed straight for Jason's office.

"We must pursue him, quickly!" Artemis yelled.

Butler ran after Nick and nearly got close enough to grab him. Holly opened her own wings and flew after him. She followed him until her wings gave out and she fell to the floor. Artemis, not being any physical help, figured out which route Nick would take and found an Assassin Entry that would take them right to the office. The Irish teen issued orders for the rest of his team to follow him and they found their way to the office.

Nick had flown to Jason's office and told his uncle that some people were after them.

"Who? Who is it?" Jason said, rising from his expensive leather chair.

"Do you know who the LEP are?"

"Oh no! They got you on their side? Well at least now you're doing the right thing." The man chewed his cigar for a moment, "Alright, here is a pirated moon belt that I got from some underground illegals. Put it on and I'll attach myself to it. We'll go out the window and fly by Trudy's room. We'll pick her up and fly to the next town over. I've got some contacts there that might be able to help us."

Nick put on the moon belt and frowned. It was LEP equipment. That centaur could have a tracer on it. He'd have to worry about that later. The two flew out the widow, Nick using his limited magic to shield and Jason covered in some pirated cam-foil. They flew to what Jason said was Trudy's window and knocked on it.

Artemis and the gang had arrived at the office just in time to see Nick fly Jason out the window. Butler ran to grab them but wasn't fast enough.

"Now what?" Holly asked.

"To Trudy's room, they'll be taking her with them." Artemis said quickly.

The trio ran through the secret passages and finally found Trudy's room.

**Trudy's room**

Trudy had been practicing her bass solo for her band when her father's head appeared in her window. Nothing else, just the head.

Trudy screamed.

"Quick Trudy! Out the window! We need to get out of here before…" Jason didn't finish because Artemis had slammed the window closed.

"You must be Trudy. No need for you to know who I am." Artemis smiled a vampire smile.

Trudy screamed again.

Butler stepped forth. "Are we taking her with us?"

"Yes, I suppose so. Are you okay with that, Captain?" Artemis asked a shimmer that was next to Trudy.

"Fine with me. Do you want me to knock her out?" Holly said.

Trudy backed away, totally terrified but not dumb. She grabbed a baseball bat that she happened to have next to her dresser and swung it in wide arches.

"Stay away from me! My body guard is right outside!" Trudy bluffed, remembering that her father had sent Charlie home.

"I think not. He would have come in as soon as he heard you scream. No need to knock her out, Butler will take care of this."

**Outside**

Nick had insisted that they fly away before Butler could grab them.

"But what if they kill Trudy?" Jason asked as Nick flew south.

"Artemis may be mean but he wouldn't kill. He is nothing like your brother. He'll probably take her back to Ireland and call us from there. I have a feeling he doesn't like doing business in Chicago." Nick guessed.

"What will happen to Trudy?" Jason sobbed.

"I don't know, but she'll be safe." Nick was pretty sure that nothing would happen to Trudy. If something did happen to her he would personally kill Artemis.

Jason wept about his daughter until Nick set him down in front of a sleazy motel. Jason helped Nick cover his wings and they both signed in. The room they got was smaller than some bathrooms that Nick had seen, smellier too.

Things looked grim.

**Trudy's Room**

Butler had taken the bat away from Trudy and was about to pick her up when she pepper sprayed him. The big body guard staggered back for a moment and wiped his eyes. He had been trained how to get pepper spray out of his eyes at Madame Ko's academy.

He tried to pick her up again but she jumped out of the way. Her bass guitar swinging around on its strap. Trudy ran for the door but was stopped by Holly, who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Holly shocked Trudy with her Neutrino. The girl dropped to the floor in a heap.

"I thought I told you not to knock her out." Artemis snorted.

"It seemed easier than letting her run around and pepper spray people. By the way, are you okay, Butler?" Holly shrugged.

"Fine. I did not see that coming, I must be getting old." He grimaced when he remembered that he was old.

"Alright, we'll take her back to Ireland and contact Nick from there. I have a feeling that an exchange is in order." With that Artemis left the room and waited for his team to follow.

**A/N: Can you see the Complex starting? Do I need to make it less subtle? How about Mulch? Do you think he should come back, or stay away? Oh yeah, I'm putting this on all of my stories, if you want me to post a new chapter after this then you need to review. No one is going to do it for you.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Alright. I give in. I don't need your reviews to write. :P Take that!**

**Disclaimer: Grunt. Translation: I'm tired and I don't own Artemis Fowl.**

**Ireland**

Trudy woke up on a tiny bed in a cinder block room. She blinked away the tiredness and looked around. One floor, one bed, her bass guitar, and one camera following her every move. Home sweet home.

Trudy bent and picked up her guitar. The camera followed. She set the guitar on the bed and stood up. Trudy glanced nervously at the camera and then yawned, stretching her arms wide.

"Hello?" She called. Her voiced seemed small.

The door swung open and a vampire walked through. Trudy looked up at him because she had always been short.

"Miss Spiro." The vampire stated.

"Yeah…"

"Welcome to Ireland."

"Um, are you a vampire?" Trudy asked, seeing his mismatched eyes, certain he was not human.

"Of course not, I am as human as you are." Artemis smiled, which made Trudy think even more of Dracula.

"That means you are doing something illegal here." Trudy frowned, "Cuz last time I checked, kidnapping was not legal anywhere."

Artemis nodded sadly. "The only way I'm afraid. I'm sorry if it seems rather rude."

"I'm fine with crime, grew up with it my whole life. Dad's in the crime biz, Uncle Jon too. I figured that I'd probably end up in the slammer myself someday. Can't stand kidnappers though." Trudy shrugged.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions, may I?" Artemis said politely.

"I'm no kid, don't talk to me like one. Besides, I don't think I've got much choice." Trudy glanced nervously at Butler, who was standing silently in the door frame.

"We looked through your wallet and found a few pictures that need identifying." Artemis held out a picture of five girls and raised a slender eyebrow.

"That's my band; the Blue Bloods." Trudy took the picture and pointed to various girls, identifying each, "That's me, that one is Mimi Kronski, Ellie Ricardo, Cheri Papaloan, and Grendel Silverton."

Artemis recognized several major crime lords' last names. _What kind of friends does this girl have?_ Artemis asked himself. "And this picture?"

Trudy looked at it and shrugged. "My dad's sister Felicia."

Artemis looked at the picture again and saw a remarkable resemblance to Jon Spiro. He pulled out another photo that he knew didn't belong with the others. It was a small picture of a woman sitting by a bend in the stream, right next to an ancient oak tree.

Trudy scowled and grabbed at the photograph. "Give me that you jerk!"

Artemis let go. "Who is it?"

"My mom. Now get outta here!" Trudy shrieked and swung her guitar at him.

Butler's large palm stopped the blow from hitting Artemis. He took the instrument and set it gently down.

Artemis retreated out of the room followed by Butler.

Trudy sat on the bed and stared at the picture.

**Artemis' Study, Fowl Manor**

Artemis sat in his chair, head in hands. He was thinking of possible plans to find Nick.

Butler watched the security monitors next to his charge. He knew better than to interrupt the prodigy when he was planning but there was something Artemis was not telling him.

"Artemis? What is so special about that photo? Or that girl's mother?" The big body guard asked.

"I don't think it is her mother. I examined the photo closely for signs of photo doctoring but found none; I don't know how she did it." Artemis sighed.

Just then Holly entered, having been in the kitchen for a few hours eating what vegetables she could find. "Did what? Not all of us speak genius you know."

"I don't know how Trudy got ahold of that picture." Artemis rubbed his temple.

"Did you ever consider the fact that it was her picture?" Holly asked.

"Of course, it was my first thought on the matter. It could not be possible."

"Who is the picture of anyway?" Holly asked, munching on a carrot stick.

"Miss Spiro claims it is her mother, but that cannot be."

"Why not?" Butler asked.

"Because it is a picture of Nick's mother."

**Motel Supreme, Outskirts of Chicago**

Jason was not surviving well with the dirty motel. He had become accustomed to soft, goose down pillows, velvet blankets, and the world's most comfortable waterbed. Motel Supreme had hard, mouse dropping covered pillows, burlap blankets, and cotton balls on top of wood for beds.

Nick had seen worse places in his time as a criminal. Millard's, for example. The one time Clyde and Bonnie had stayed in a motel had been much worse than this one.

Jason spent most of his time crying over Trudy and other things that Nick didn't ask about. While Jason did this Nick monitored the news channel, looking for word of his escape from Millard's or a report about the Spiros disappearance. He did not find what he was looking for.

One day their motel phone received a call, a call from Ireland. Nick reluctantly answered.

"Hello, you've reached Motel Supreme. How may I help you?" Nick said, making his voice as deep as possible.

"Nicholas, you can't fool me. I've called about your cousin." Artemis said.

"You must have the wrong phone number sonny. This here is Motel Supreme." Nick lied.

"This also concerns your mother and uncle."

Nick glanced at his weeping uncle. Now was the time to make things right.

"What about them?" Nick switched to his normal voice.

"I need you to come to Ireland. Anyone could be monitoring this line." Artemis said.

"And then what? Captain Short will arrest Jason and I'll either be sent back to Millard's or forced to live in that tiny cell in your basement!" Nick defied.

"I can't talk. I'll send Butler in my jet tomorrow, get on the plane or the girl is going to be spending some time in Howler's Peek." Artemis bluffed.

"For what? She's no criminal."

"Assisting in murder. She played a hand in your mother's death you know." And with that Artemis hung up, feeling extremely guilty.

**A/N: Review! Or else! I've got to go move my mouse cage to the warm side of my room, catch you later!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Hmm… Do you think I own Artemis Fowl? I'm having a hard time remembering. I don't think I own Artemis Fowl.**

**Basement, Fowl Manor**

Trudy strummed her guitar and then kicked the door.

"Ow!" She hopped up and down on her other foot and then sat back down. Her bass guitar was her only friend now.

"Oh, I'm sitting here a wasting away; I always knew I'd go to jail someday. Though, I never thought that I would be caught by this Irish jerk!" Trudy stopped singing and yelled the last line at the camera, "Yeah he's a jerk! Such a jerk! I'd like to wipe off his smirk! Oh I hate that jerk!"

She didn't seem to be getting any attention. Trudy screamed and threw her shoe at the camera. The flip-flop smacked the camera but fell helplessly to the floor afterwards.

"I need something heavier." She looked at her electric bass guitar and grinned. It had taken worse beatings.

Trudy swung her guitar in a wide arch and hit the camera at full force. Her guitar gave a low moaning sound and the camera exploded. Two minutes later Butler came in.

"What took you so long?" Trudy grinned.

Butler examined the exploded camera. "What did you do that for, kid?"

"I'm hungry. You got anything to eat?" Trudy whined.

Butler nodded, "What would you like?"

"No meat; I'm vegetarian. I'll take some fruit if you got any."

Butler sighed, everyone was a vegetarian these days; he never got any meat anymore.

"I'll get you an apple once I replace the camera." The big man got to work and was done in a matter of minutes. "Now don't try breaking the camera again or I'll have to take your guitar away."

Butler left to get some fruit and didn't return for a half an hour.

**Artemis' Study**

Butler went to the study immediately after replacing the camera.

"Why did she break the camera? Anger, perhaps?" Artemis asked, glancing up from the computer.

"She was hungry." Butler shrugged.

"She could have used a much less destructive way of contact, oh well."

"When are we going to tell her?" Butler asked hesitantly.

Artemis pretended he didn't know what Butler was talking about, but of course he did. "Tell her what?"

"About her mother. It's not right to keep it from her."

"True, but it could be dangerous to tell her. Remember, Miss Spiro is part fairy."

Butler nodded, it was best not to question Artemis' plans; others who had questioned had never been seen again. Butler shuddered at the thought of old Artemis.

"Now, you have an appointment with our old colleague Nicholas. I suggest you get Trudy's food and the fire up the Lear." Artemis said while glancing over some papers for school. The boy only did school papers when he had nothing better to do or when he was in between projects.

Butler brought the apple to Trudy and then left for the nearby airport. Look out Chicago, here comes Butler.

**Motel Supreme, Chicago**

Nick cleaned his uncle up before exiting the sleazy motel. Jason had been crying for two days and was a mess. His suit was in tatters, his hair was disarrayed, and his face was tear-streaked. Nick had insisted Jason clean up for the business meeting with Artemis and if not for the meeting then for Trudy. That seemed to break something in the man. He cleaned his face and brushed his hair, nothing could be done about the suit but somehow he managed to make even that look sharp and crisp. Jason Spiro was a man on a mission.

Nick didn't bother hiding his wings at all when he heard a knock on the door. Instead the boy walked up to the door and swung it open. Butler stood there and Nick nodded at him.

"Uncle, the plane is here." Nick called over his shoulder, never taking his eyes off of the massive man in front of him.

Jason came out of the motel room and straightened his shredded tie. "Very good Nick. You're Mr. Butler I presume." Jason offered a hand.

"I don't shake the hands of murders." Butler snarled.

"Curious, the murder weapon doesn't shake murders' hands." Jason sneered.

Butler grunted.

"Shall we go, gentlemen?" Nick said airily.

"Let's." Jason smiled.

The whole thing was efficient and business like. Jason's behavior wouldn't have made his brother proud but it would certainly make Jon hate him less.

The trio clambered into the Lear jet and flew off to Ireland to strike a deal with Artemis Fowl the second…

**A/N: Review! I might die if you don't! Then the story will never be finished! Please don't make me die! REVIEW! **


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I will not be writing any Fanfiction for all of November. I'm doing NaNoWriMo, which is a writing program, and won't have time for that, Fanfiction, and schoolwork. I had to make a choice of which one to drop for a month and since I can't drop school (sadly) I'm dropping Fanfiction. So none from me until November is over. I'll write on here until November starts but not afterwards. Sorry.**

**Disclaimer: I'm running out of disclaimer ideas, so until I get some new ones. I don't own Artemis Fowl.**

**Front Gate, Fowl Manor**

Nick watched Butler. He watched his walk, his twitching, any reactions he had. Nick followed every movement of the massive body guard. He needed to find a weakness, just in case.

When Butler led the little group behind the house to the delivery entrance Nick grew wary.

"Why can't we use the front door?" The sprite asked.

"I live here, I don't have to." Butler grunted.

"This had better not be a trap set up by the LEP." Jason warned.

Butler just snorted. Nick got ready to fight, or fly, depending on the circumstances.

When they got inside there was no Recon team waiting for them, only Captain Short. Juliet was no longer present, having left for Mexico with her wrestling team days earlier.

Artemis entered from the door on the side of the kitchen, looking as smug as ever. "Mr. Johnson, how are you? And you, Mr. Spiro?"

"I could be better, Artemis. Now, where is my cousin?" Nick said, keeping his tone as calm as possible.

"I see that you want to get to business. Wouldn't you like something to drink first? Perhaps tea or a carbonated drink?"

"No thanks." Jason smiled, "I'm on a strict hot chocolate diet. Thank you for the offer young man."

Artemis knew this psychological technique well. Jason was making himself the adult and Artemis the child. Of course that was the literal situation anyways, but Jason was going for the mental approach.

"Of course, Jason. Why don't we go to the lounge, it will be much more comfortable." Artemis smiled. By calling Jason by his first name he was making them equals again.

"Do you happen to have a meeting room? I prefer to conduct business in a professional , rather than while on a sofa." Jason sneered.

"Certainly, follow me."

The two visitors followed the Irish teenager into a board room were various crooks had sat over the years, all of them once employed by the Fowl name.

_How times have changed._ Artemis thought.

Nick took a seat next to Artemis. "You are going to regret it if Jason goes to jail." The sprite hissed.

"I doubt that." Artemis whispered back, gesturing to Butler with his shoulder.

"Enough pleasantries. Where is my daughter?!" Jason said, tapping his fingers on the oak table impatiently.

"All in good time, Jason. Right now we are discussing your roll in Mr. and Mrs. Johnson's untimely death." Artemis raised a slender eyebrow and looked accusingly at Jason.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I had nothing to do with it. I was tried once for this crime already. I cannot be tried again, says the law." Jason snorted.

"Not in the human court perhaps." Jason's smile wavered for a moment and Artemis gained the upper hand, "But you should have nothing to worry about if you didn't do it. The LEP will mesmerize you to be sure and then you can go free."

"Right…" Nick said, glancing at his uncle.

"Why would you even suspect me of such a crime?" Jason laughed.

"You were married once, correct?" Artemis asked.

"Yes…"

"Would you mind telling me her name?"

"Err, Mary. Her name was Mary." Jason stuttered.

"We all know that you once dated Nicholas' mother, and isn't it true that the name Mary could be shortened?" Artemis was towering over a cowering Jason now.

"I suppose… It could be shortened to Muffy."

"Or, perhaps, Minnie?" Artemis glanced at Nick.

Nick was a pale green; he looked like he was going to be sick.

"I… uh… sure it could." Jason blubbered.

Nick was in shock. He looked at Artemis. "What are you saying?"

"Nick, your mother was once married to Jason Spiro." Artemis smirked.

"That's not true!" Nick had tears swelling in his eyes.

"I'm afraid so."

Nick unfurled his wings and stood. He flapped and took off out the door. Butler made a move to follow but Artemis shook his head and elbowed Holly. She was off with a new pair of wings. The old ones had been taken back to Foaly with complaints of glitches.

No one can catch a sprite in the air. It is virtually impossible, they are too good. The only person on or in this earth who stood a chance at catching Nick was Holly Short, the best pilot of the LEP. Even then the chances are slim.

Nick zoomed around corners and flew over furniture. His destination: away from Fowl Manor. Before he could find the door he heard a lovely voice coming from a hallway. A lovely voice and a bass guitar…

**Basement**

Trudy was singing her favorite song in hopes it might lure someone down to rescue her. The song was about a girl who wanted to fly away from the city life. Trudy understood the feeling well. She sang and played her guitar until her throat hurt. Finally there was a scratching noise on the lock.

Trudy tightened her grip on her guitar in case it was Butler. When the door came open a teenage boy was standing in the door way. He had a wire and knife in his hands. Trudy noticed something else.

"You have wings!" Then she recognized him, "You're that kid who my dad thinks is his nephew!"

Nick blushed and wiped some of his tears away. "Yeah, that's me. Listen, we've got to get out of here. They'll be down here any minute!"

"Who?" Trudy asked, "You mean that Irish jerk?"

"Exactly."

"Let's go!"

The two ran through the halls until they heard Holly coming near. They ducked into a room. Holly followed.

"After you heard what Artemis said you had better not kiss her." Holly smiled.

"Eww." Nick gagged.

"Alright. We've got your daddy tied up and are going to take him to Howler's Peak if you don't come negotiate with Artemis." Holly said.

"Why does she have wings? And pointy ears? I thought I was the only one with those. And where is Howler's Peak?" Trudy demanded.

"I'll explain later." Then all of what she had said registered on Nick's mind, "You have pointy ears?"

Trudy nodded.

"I've got a lot to tell you."

"Family reunion later. Business now." Holly said impatiently.

Before either of the teens could run Holly handcuffed them to her own arms. The teenagers protested greatly but Holly would not relent. She struggled to get them through the halls until Butler came to her aide.

"Need some help?"

"Yes!" Holly gasped.

Butler threw one teen over each shoulder and carried them to the conference room. Artemis was waiting with a tied up Jason.

"Welcome back, Nick. You may not have noticed that running away from me in my own house is rather pointless." Artemis smirked.

"Whatever." Nick snorted. Trudy stared at everyone.

"Why does she have pointy ears? Why does this boy have wings? How do her wings work? Why did you even kidnap me? It's because of Dad, isn't it? I hate being a multimillionaire's daughter sometimes. Why don't your eyes match? Where on earth did you find a Butler? Hey! You must be a Fowl to have one of them working for you! My body guard's last name is Butler but he might not be related. I know his first name is Charlie. Does that mean anything to you Mr. Butler?" Trudy babbled.

"Holly, would you please quiet this obnoxious girl down?" Artemis groaned, rubbing his temple where a migraine had just blossomed.

"Do you want her to hypnotize me? Cuz one time I hypnotized myself by looking in the mirror and doing this thing my mom taught me." Trudy said, backing away.

"You can mesmerize people?" Nick asked, bewildered that Minnie would teach Trudy something like that but not him.

"Uh, I guess. If that's what that is called." Trudy shrugged.

"Can you do anything else unusual?" Artemis asked, forgetting his headache.

"Sort of. Whenever I get a scrape it heals up quickly. I tried getting my ears pierced one time," Jason looked upset, "And the holes closed in a couple of seconds with blue fireworks coming out of the holes." Trudy laughed.

"Anything else?" Artemis inquired.

"Um, not that I know of." Trudy shrugged.

Holly and Artemis looked at each other in surprise.

"How long have you been able to do this stuff?" Holly asked.

"Like forever." Trudy smiled at Holly like she was the little kid.

"Nick, can do any of that?" Said Holly.

"I can shield, but barely. I've got very little healing abilities." Nick shrugged.

Trudy gasped. "You can turn invisible?! Wow! That is so awesome!"

"It would appear that Gertrude got the magic and Nick got the physical looks." Artemis observed.

"You mean, I'm magical?!" Trudy shrieked, "It was okay to have abilities when they were like super hero stuff but I don't want to be magical! People will think I'm weird!"

Trudy started to hyperventilate and Butler brought her a paper bag. "Breathe into it."

Trudy shoved the bag away and held her stomach. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Butler shrugged and held the bag out to her again. "Barf into it."

Instead of pushing it away this time Trudy grabbed it and threw up. Holly felt bad for the girl and patted her on the back, which produced more throw up.

"Do you need to sit down?" Holly asked.

Trudy nodded and sat down on the sofa, clutching her stomach.

"I'd hate to evoke another nausea attack, but there is more that you should know." Artemis sighed, hoping Trudy would not throw up on the rug, "Are you ready?"

Trudy nodded. "Can't be worse than finding out I'm magical."

Jason looked worried for his daughter but could not say anything because of his gag and because he also felt sick, but his nausea was from lying to Nick, his daughter, and the LEP.

"The reason you're magical is because you're part sprite." Artemis let it sink in but it seemed to have no effect on Trudy.

"I'm part soda?" Trudy asked, not amused.

"Not Sprite, sprite, as in part fairy." Nick explained.

"I'M A FAIRY! That's even worse!" Trudy groaned.

"Not only that but your mother, who was a full blooded sprite," Artemis started.

"Is, she is a full blooded sprite. She's not dead, just missing." Trudy interrupted.

Artemis felt like he was going to throw up. He knew how this girl felt; wanting your parent to be alive but knowing the odds are against it. But what was even worse was the fact that his father had been alive and this girl's mother was not.

"Artemis, are you alright?" Butler asked, seeing his charge turn a slight green color.

"Uh, of course, must be the fumes. Open a window please." Artemis said, gesturing to the bag of throw up.

"What's the matter with Dracula Jr.?" Trudy asked. Nick smiled, maybe she was his sister.

"I'm fine, now back to the story. I'm afraid, Miss Spiro, that your mother is in fact dead."

Trudy smiled and shook her head. "Silly Dracula, she can't be dead; she sent me a letter."

**A/N: Do you think Trudy is right or crazy? Review! Tell me what you think! Quickly, before November is upon us!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Mwahaha! Will Trudy be crazy or not? Only I have the power to decide! (Cackles like witch.) Let us see…**

**Disclaimer: Me: Don't own it.**

**Holly: Own what?**

**Me (sighing): I don't own Artemis Fowl, as you well know.**

**Holly is satisfied, for now.**

**Fowl Manor**

Artemis' jaw dropped. Holly stared. Butler looked ready to smash something. Jason looked ill. Nick screamed. It wasn't a very manly scream either, he sounded just like a little girl.

"What's the prob? Why is Fairy Boy screaming?" Trudy asked innocently.

"The 'prob' is your mother is Nick's mother and she is dead." Artemis said, recovering from his shock quickly.

"Sooooo, Nick is my brother? That's hard to believe." Trudy shrugged, "But with the day I've been having…"

"She isn't alive! I saw her body!" Nick yelled.

"Suit yourself. _My _mom is alive."

"Let me see proof of that!" Nick snorted.

"Alright, here. This picture I have is of my mom." Trudy handed over the photograph.

Nick looked at it. "This is my mom." He sighed, "But this picture is really old, it's in black and white."

"Well how about this?" Trudy pulled a letter out of her back pocket.

"Let me see that!" Nick glanced over the letter and frowned. "It's in English."

"Yeah, duh!"

"Didn't she teach you Gnommish?" Nick asked.

"Gnome what?"

Nick shook his head and continued to look over the letter. "This is more fake than dwarf scales."

"You are a strange kid, you know that?" Trudy asked, not being familiar with the fairy term. But she guessed what it meant anyway. "It's not fake. I know my mom's signature."

"So do I, and that ain't it."

Artemis rolled his eyes at the poor grammar. "This is getting more confusing by the second. Nick, do you have an example of your mother's signature?"

Nick searched his pockets and smiled sarcastically. "Must have left it in my jail uniform. Of course I don't have an example! The only time I saw her signature was when she was signing stuff! She never had to write permission slips for a five year old!"

"You went to jail?" Trudy asked. Nick rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand as he felt a headache form.

"Trudy, how do you know this letter isn't a fake?" Artemis sighed. Dealing with the unintelligent took forever.

"When my mom went missing she was in Ho Cho Min City. Look at the post mark." Trudy ordered.

Artemis felt a flashback to when he first encountered a fairy. Ho Cho Min City, the year he was twelve, he had met a drunken sprite. Suddenly things were becoming clear.

"Either Trudy was tricked or Nick and the entire LEP were." Artemis announced.

"Huh? What's the LEP?" Trudy asked.

"Lower Elements Police." Nick said quickly.

"Lower Elements? What's that mean?"

"Underground."

Trudy shut up, figuring that whatever she asked was going to be answered with something she did not understand. She'd get the details later.

"When I was in Ho Cho Min I met an old drunken sprite." Artemis started.

"Ha! I told you she wasn't dead!" Trudy said to Nick.

"Humph." Nick grunted.

"We don't know that. When I met her she was in pretty bad condition, doing small healings for whiskey and the likes. Butler and I cleared her system of any alcohol so she could return to Haven. I never heard of her again but perhaps…" Artemis shook his head, "It is very unlikely but she may have been your mother."

"My mom never touched alcohol." Nick snorted.

"Neither did mine!" Trudy said, trying not to be outdone by Nick.

"She or some other sprite in Ho Cho Min could be your mother or…" Artemis paused, looking at Trudy, "You may have been tricked."

Trudy rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. I know it was my mom."

"It will be simple to check. I will scan the letter for fingerprints and check them against your mother's." Artemis pulled out his phone and tapped the screen. It came to life and greeted him in Lily Frond's voice.

"Welcome Artemis, what do you need?" The voice said.

Holly frowned and spat. "You did that just to annoy me, didn't you?"

Artemis smirked. "Perhaps. Phone, fingerprint scanner please." The phone beeped and a scanning device appeared. Artemis held it over the letter. "It will take a moment. Foaly doesn't exactly keep a good record." The phone chirped to let Artemis know that it had found a match. "Ah, here we go. Oh…"

"What Dracula?" Trudy asked, leaning over to get a look.

"Do not call me 'Dracula' and I will tell you." Artemis' brow furrowed.

"Sorry Fowl."

"Good enough. The prints do not match Minnie Johnson's –err—Spiro's." Artemis glanced at the other two teenagers. They were glaring at each other.

"Her last name was Johnson when she died so that is what you will refer to her as." Nick sneered.

"She was a Spiro first. Call her that." Trudy argued.

"Spiros are murders and cut throats, my mom wasn't one of you." Nick spat.

"Boys!" Trudy stomped her foot and turned away from her brother. Nick did the exact same thing to his sister.

"Uh, Minnie…" Artemis started.

"Call her Mary!" Trudy demanded.

"Um, Mary…"

"Her name was Minnie!" Nick shouted.

"Your mother…" Artemis paused in case someone wanted to argue. When no one did he continued. "Did not send the letter. Someone named Rose Potts sent it."

"Let me check it out." Holly sighed, opening a tab on her visor.

"No need, Holly. Have the file right here." Artemis tapped a few things on his phone, "Currently lives in Ho Cho Min City, that is to say, under it."

"There are no cities in that location." Holly said, reading the information from her helmet.

"It would seem she is living in an ancient station. An old magma flare shoot is nearby and she is living in the station."

"Why did she send the letter?" Trudy asked.

"Uh oh!" Nick blurted.

"What?" Holly asked.

"Two things, my library books are way overdue. And two, I just remembered that my mom's maiden name was Potts!" Nick smiled weakly.

"And you did not remember this when I was telling you our suspects name?" Artemis growled.

"I don't know why I didn't recognize it earlier." Nick chuckled.

"Ugh! I really hope you're not actually my brother. You are so dumb!" Trudy said, ruffling Nick's straight, blonde hair.

"Speak for yourself. How am I going to survive a sister as idiotic as you?" Nick groaned, smacking Trudy's hand.

Butler smiled, remembering what it was like to have an annoying sister.

"Can you please argue about this later? I would like to solve this mystery and move on with my life." Artemis grumbled.

"Right away, Your Highness." Nick faked a bow.

"These are the facts: One, Nick and Trudy are siblings." Artemis began.

"They wish they weren't." Trudy muttered.

Artemis shot her a look and she closed her mouth. "As I was saying. Two, Mary Potts was their mother. Three, Rose Potts, who may be a relative, sent Trudy a letter pretending to be Mary. Four, Jason murdered Nick's father and mother, who is also Trudy's mother."

"No he didn't!" Both siblings yelled.

"I suppose that is not yet a fact." Artemis relented.

Jason, who was bound and gagged, moaned. Butler ripped the duck tape off Jason's face.

"Ouch!" Jason rubbed his face were he used to have a goatee. "Trudy, Nick, you are the only family I have and I would never hurt either of you." Jason sighed, "Jon may be my brother but he's no family of mine. He was the one who convinced me to do it."

Holly switched on the recorder on her helmet. A confession might prove useful later.

"Continue, Mr. Spiro." Artemis waved him on.

"When Minnie threatened to take Trudy away I got angry. Back then I had no power, just the name of Spiro. I went to talk to Jon, I didn't know he hated me back then, and he suggested that I prevent Minnie from taking my beloved Trudy. I followed his advice and…" Jason sobbed. He cried out and apologized several times. "I arranged for the confusion on the pod." Jason was shaking now. "Oh, Trudy, Nick, I was foolish. I killed Minnie and Travis!" Jason wailed.

Trudy shuddered and looked away. Nick stared. Jason had lied to him. His only living family had lied to him. His mother and father had been killed by this monster. But he wasn't a monster; he was a kind uncle and father, not a killer.

"Uncle Jason, how could you?" Nick hissed. "You killed my parents and lied about it. You lied to me and Trudy and to the LEP!"

"I know! And I didn't mean to, well I did but Jon made me do it!" Jason sobbed.

Artemis glanced at Trudy. She was not weeping; she was not showing any sign of hate, love or any emotion at all.

"I know what happened." The teenage girl declared.

"I killed your mother." Jason sobbed.

"Not intentionally. You were mesmerized, or whatever. Either Jon did it or someone working for him."

"Trudy, are you sure? This is very serious, if he was mesmerized this puts a whole new twist in the case." Holly chided.

"I know what I'm saying. Dad got hypnotized by one of those fairies and they told him to kill Mom."

**A/N: Wow, that was a sad chapter. I didn't know I could write sad. I think the next chapter will be more upbeat. Choi! **

**P.S. I actually wrote this before November, I don't know why I didn't publish it then.**

**P.P.S. Sorry I accidently had two of chap13 up! I downloaded the wrong file! **


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